
Class J£J^-33- 

Book >£ 



PRESENTED BY 




ELD. J. N. HALL. 






MRS. J. N. HALL. 



MEMOIRS 

OF 

ELD. J. M HALL 



oo 



The Peerless Defender of the 
Baptist Faith 

oo 
By 

W. M. BARKER 

i 1 

Assisted by 

MRS. J. NL HALL 
oo 



FULTON, KY. 
BAPTIST FLAG PRINT 

1907 



3l 



^3 



DEDICATION 

Dedicated to the Master's Cause, 
his beloved brethren, his host 
of beloved and loving friends, 
and to his bereaved wife and 
daughter. 



Gift 






PREFACE. 

Tie attempt to set forth a true history of 
any iran or institution should be an intelligent 
effort. That is, the biographer must know his 
eubjec'". It was not the writer's privilege to have 
a long and intimate personal acquaintance with 
Bro. J. N. Hall; but the period of our personal 
acquaintance was one of such vivid and trying ex- 
periences that the character and inner life of the 
man were laid bare at every step and every turn. 

It will be remembered that the famous attack 
by S. A. Hayden of Texas was made during the 
months from November, 1904, to November, 1905. 
Those who read the attacks will remember their 
character and the victory of Dr. Hall before a 
committee mutually chosen at Texarkana, Texas. 
This most wanton and unprovoked attack on a 
friend was one of the painful experiences of his 
life, and yet how magnanimously he rose above 
it, and, like the Christian gentleman that he was, 
offered his hand to his enemies, proposing to for- 
give all, and' asking forgivenness for any wrong 
that he may have committed. Death came with 
the hand of brotherly forgivenness still vainly 
extended. 

During this same period of time others that 
he had trusted as friends in the most intimate 
way, seized the opportunity of his confidence to- 



iv Preface. 

injure him in every way possible. In all these dire 
experiences, which affected not only his good 
lame and fortune, but others with whom he was 
connected, he stood, like the great oak in the 
storm with only true and kind words for his 
enemies. Men of wicked intentions accused him 
cf working the people after the Texas coal oil 
i.lan, and charged him with robbing the widow 
.out in Arkansas. 

The strenuous and trying situation into 
which I was thrust with him on account of these 
attacks, brought to my view the superiority of 
the man, not only in intellectual gifts, but in 
moral and Christian character. 
The first time the writer ever saw Dr. Hall, he 
was climbing the platform in Concordia Hall, Lit- 
tle Rock, Ark., at the opening session of the Bap- 
tist State Association in 1903. The first sermon 
that I heard him preach was on the following 
Sunday at the same place. The first conversation 
with him was at the General Association of Texas, 
at Dallas, in 1904. Our mutual business interests 
brought us together in personal conversation. At 
that meeting our strong mutual attachment began 
and grew and strengthened during the brief, inti- 
mate and strenuous association that followed, end- 
ing with his death, a little over one year later. Our 
last meeting was in the Southern Hotel at Texar- 
kana, Texas, at the General Association of Amer- 
ica, in 1905. On our way down to that meeting, 
the subject of his delicate health came up, and 
the importance of his life to the Baptist interests, 
and he remarked cheerfully: "Brother Barker, 



Preface. V 

the Lord is never short of men." The last time 
I saw him alive was in that hotel as he went to 
sleep under the influence of medicine. At his sug- 
gestion I went to sleep on a bed in the same 
room. During that period of sleep, our final sep- 
aration in this world occurrea. He quietly dressed 
himself and left without disturbing me, and went 
to Prescott, Arkansas. 

Some incidents during our acquaintance show 
the man. At one time the aspect of the battle was 
such that I thought of changing my position, and 
declared my intention to himi and he replied: 
"Stick to your bush, trust the Lord, and I will 
stand by you." 

At another time I came up with a Conven- 
tion Baptist (?) preacher at an association in 
Arkansas, who was circulating a scurrilous report 
against him, and I suggested to him to handle 
the man by law. I apprised Brother Hall of my 
ideas, and he replied: "When you have dealt 
with as many such skunks as I have, you will want 
to 'handle' them just as little as possible." The 
wisdom of the suggestion has since been made 
manifest. 

The first words Dr. Hall ever spoke to me 
were, "Well, now, Brother Barker, I am devoutly 
glad to see you ; you look like you might be good." 
The last words were: "Now lie down and rest, 
Brother Barker, I ami feeling much better." The 
last words he ever wrote me were : "I will have to 
leave the Flag in your hands ; do your best, as I 
know you will. It will be weeks before I am able 
•to do anything, if I ever am. I am ready for my 



vi Preface. 

departure, God bless you;" and so he went to his 
rest. 

He also mentioned Brethren Williams and 
Bandy, in a most tender manner, and that he had 
spoken to them to assist. me all they could in the 
crisis. These dying words have always been a 
bond of tender attachment to these two excellent 
brethren, who were then and are still personal 
strangers to me ; but whose names are familiar to 
all old Flag readers, and who still are staunch 
friends of The Flag. 

This delicate but pleasant work of helping 
to set forth his life, for the betterment and help of 
others, comes as a duty as unexpected and 
unsought as that of sitting at his desk and wield- 
ing his pen; and both equally honorable. 

My short acquaintance, and a desire to have 
Dr. Hall seen in the light of his own labors, rather 
than the glamour of eulogy by another, we have 
decided that he, himself, shall write the most of 
this volume. 

W. M. Barker. 



CHAPTER I. 

FAMILY SKETCH. 

The childhood and youth of any great man 
is always hung about with a mystic charm. 
Where history is impossible, fancy comes with 
the creation of ideals that she thinks must cor- 
respond with the brilliant manhood. It paints 
the boy with a halo about his head and a youth- 
ful charm that delights the gaze. 

The Christ life, the most wonderful of all, 
and whose childhood is most hidden, has chal- 
lenged the efforts of curiosity. Fable and fiction 
have come as the fruits of fancy. Imagination 
never tires in its work of creation in the realm 
of the childhood from which emerge great and 
good people. For some reason, best known . to 
Himself the God of All has designed that the 
most striking, and lasting period of men shall be 
that of refined manhood, and that the time in 
which the life monument is built, and all substan- 
tial character erected. Could we know the de- 
tails of the child life, and see them in the light 
of subsequent achievements, there would be seen 
in the boy prophecies of the man, that, like all 
prophecies, are not heeded or believed as proph- 
ecy. The life of the completed man must define 
the prophecy by fulfillment. 



8 • Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

It is an old, and reasonably, correct saying, 
that "blood will tell." It is also a proverb, that 
"all men have a right to be well born," — a thing 
in which the rights of many are violated. To be 
"well born" means mental, moral and physical 
soundness in the parent stock. 

To the writer, it is vastly to the credit of 
the subject of this volume, that his father was 
of Virginia extraction. In an early day there 
came from that old state a young man by the 
name of William E. Hall. He was of robust 
nature and brave heart and so pushed into the 
vilds of "the purchase." During his stay in 
Clinton County, Mr. Hall met a coy and attract- 
ive lass by the name of Elizabeth Hall. These 
two married with result that Elizabeth Hall was 
Elizabeth Hall, and that was all, only now she 
became Mrs. Hall. These two earnest and indus- 
trious people settled down to the usual battle 
of life, of striving for a temporary foot- 
ing on this tottery disc of time, as mil- 
lions before them had done. There was 

seas. %vm 9jn}i39i peuoiiuoui-OAoqB oq; A^uo 
in any way peculiaar about them. What the 

future had in store for them only the years that 
come and go could reveal. It might be riches cr 
fame, or both, or either or neither. 

On the 5th of February 1849, there was an 
occurrence in the family that assured the fame — 
that was the birth of their first-born son. Had 
such another son ever been born? No doubt the 
parents could see visions of greatness cluster 
about the cradle, and prophecies of a remarkable 



Family Sketches. 9 

man in that little red countenance. Must these 
be disappointed? Who is the child? His name 
was Haft. Just Hall, and that was all, but one 
thing is sure, he was entirely Hall. His parents 
gave him the name of John Newton, which name 
became a household word among Baptists. His 
father and mother, both had been Halls from their 
birth, and this son was the same kind. When the 
sun rose on the 5th day of February 1849, it 
lighted for the first time the face of this infant. 
It was the countenance of a great man; a 
very small man yet, it is true, but wait. 
He will be larger bye and bye. In that infant 
voice is the Harbinger of that eloquence that in 
after y< ars thrilled the multitude and swept 
them u]) close to the gates of light, and the 
throne c f mercy. 

One unique incident comes to mind just here. 
Both the subject and writer of this were of Vir- 
ginia extraction, and both parents of each bore 
the same name before marriage. 

Whim. J. N. Hall was seven years old his par- 
ents mo^ ed to Ballard County, Ky., and settled on 
a farm that is now the site of the town of Arling- 
ton. The oldest son was one of those studious 
and dutiful boys tbnt attract attention and cause 
remark. Men still living, who were the compan- 
ions of his boyhood and youth, never tire of telling 
cf "Johnnie" Hall's peculiar traits. Bro. "Brit" 
Glenn of Arlington was his bosom friend from 
early bovhood until he went to God. Bro. T. N.- 
Holt and Bro. John Brent were also the compan- 
ions of his youth, and the staunch friends of his 



10 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

later years of manly and Christly battle for the 
faith. These tell of Dr. Hall's acts of unselfish- 
ness even before he became a Christian, which 
occurred at the age of fourteen at old Cane Run 
Church, and under the preaching of Eld. C. L. 
Cate, and was baptized into the fellowship of the 
above church. At that time that church stood 
just west of Arlington, and afterwards became 
the Arlington church. 

Thoie who knew J. N. Hall best in his boy- 
hood agree that he had a high sense of honor, and 
a special ly tender .spirit towards the unfortunate. 
The boy that was so unfortunate as to be known 
as wortli less and wicked, and the special object of 
common aversion, that boy was the special object 
of his pi*y, and subject of his sympathy and ben- 
eficence. Like all robust and healthy boys, he 
loved fur 1 , and had sport, but never at the expense 
of propr iety or the rights of others. When any 
boy of 1 is company would suggest any rude or 
wicked soort he would rebuke it and always car- 
ried his point as. he was recognized as a leader 
and authority on moral subjects. 

One most commendable thing that the writer 
hopes will be considered and acted upon by all 
boys who may chance to read this, and that is. 
that he never gave his parents any anxiety about 
improper conduct when away from home. 

Being the oldest of the family, Dr. Hall al- 
ways felt the obligation of proper conduct for the 
benefit of the younger members of the family. 
Thoroughness, diligence and honesty were his char- 
acteristics. One who was not so intimate with him 



Family Sketches. 11 

remarked : "I knew him only as a good, industri- 
ous, unassuming, home-loving, gawky youth. It 
never occurred to me that there was a J. N. Hall 
in him." 

To show how little men may judge of the 
future of a young man, Bro. Thos. N. Holt tells of 
an incident where he himself as a captain on one 
side of an oratorical contest, had the choice of 
speakers, and chose a Mr. Owens, instead of J. 
N. Hall. The dashy manner of Mr. Owens gained 
the decision, and Hall the good will of the audi 
ence. 

All will be interested to know something of 
liis education, where and how he got it. Dr. Hall 
always insisted that he never was educated; that 
he "just grew up." But his preaching and writing 
have shown him a superb scholar. Before his 
marriage he attended school at Milburn Academy, 
at Milburn, Kentucky, for three years, and 
it may be a surprise to his many admirers for his 
staunch Baptist faith, to know that that was a 
Campbellite school. One of Dr. Hall's first de- 
bates was with the president of that school, Rev. 
E. C. L. Denton. During the debate Dr. Hall 
remarked to his former teacher: "You used to 
teach and lick me, but now I am teaching and 
licking you." A brief notice and analysis of the 
characteristics and character of the man will give 
a clear view of the reason for his being able to 
"teach the teacher," and all other men in matters 
of religious lore. These characteristics loom up 
like mountain peaks. The reader is referred to 
the following chapter for that. 



12 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

Brother Hall was licensed to preach in 1871,. 
and ordained one year later, by the Hopewell 
church, and was married in the meantime on 
July 6, 1871, to Miss Mollie Earl, who was a most 
faithful helpmeet in his arduous life, until she 
died, December 12, 1899. She was the mother of 
three children, one son and two daughters, all of 
whom, except one, preceded the father to the king- 
dom above, the paradise of which he loved to 
speak. 

The death of his daughter Beulah seemed to 
be the severest blow of Dr. Hall's life, and from 
which he always suffered in spirit, showing his 
tender attachment to his children. One elegant 
and cultured Christian young woman of twenty- 
two years, Miss Ruth, is his only surviving child. 

It is said that Dr. Hall received two pounds 
of bacon and one bushel of potatoes as pay for 
his first year's preaching, and when speaking of 
it in after years, he said "the pay was according 
to the preaching." 

The editorial career reaches from 1879 to the 
day of his death, a period of more than twenty- 
seven years. During this time he was connected 
with the following papers: the Baptist Gleaner, 
Fulton, Ky., the Banner and Gleaner, with Eld. 
W. P. Throgmorton; then the Baptist Gleaner, 
with Eld. J. B. Moody; then he bought the Bap- 
tist Reaper, and changed the name to Baptist 
Gleaner, which was finally sold to the Western 
Recorder, with Dr. Hall as editor of the Gleaner 
Department. The American Baptist Flag, of St, 
Louis, Mo., was sold at auction in 1898. Dr. Hall 



FamiVy Sketches. 13 

bought the paper and removed it to Fulton, Ky., 
where under his able management, it became one 
of the foremost papers in the Baptist ranks, and 
so continues, having grown right on since his 
death, under the management of his widow, Mrs. 
Lillian J. Hall. The paper long ago ceased to be 
a local or State paper, and now carries the gospel 
to all states, and various foreign countries. In- 
deed, it can now be said that the Baptist Flag 
nearly follows the English drumbeat around vhe 
earth. The power of this Baptist enterprise will 
never be known till the full and glorious reward 
of Dr. Hall is seen. 

Dr. Hall was married the second time to 
Miss Lillian J. Smith of Trezevant, Tenn., on 
August 8, 1900. This marriage, like the first, 
proved to be a happy one, and Mrs. Hall became 
a most excellent helpmeet by her Christian spirit 
and loyal endeavors in the work of conducting 
and publishing the Baptist Flag. This work 
seemed providential in preparing for the success- 
ful continuation of the paper after Dr. Hall's 
death. Few women, even those with the capabil- 
ities, could have had the strength and courage to 
stand up to such a task. This has been espec- 
ially trying because some pretended friends have 
turned to rend The Flag when they could no 
longer use it for selfish advancement. But she 
was eminently prepared for all this, by experi- 
ences that had opened to her the fact that some 
can not be trusted beyond their selfish interests. 
These, however, were few. 

Mrs. Hall has been able to withstand the 



14 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

numerous attacks on The Flag from the many 
directions that all true Baptists and Baptist insti- 
tutions must expect attack. The spirit of disap- 
pointed ambition is perhaps the most bitter of 
all and entirely relentless, as well as unscrupu- 
lous. This has had to be met, under different 
guises and from various directions. Designing 
parties have sought to insinuate themselves 
into her confidence, but she has been sa- 
gacious enough to keep clear of their bland- 
ishments and save her business from their 
toils. She has sought the wisdom of God more 
than the wisdom of men in times of difficulty,, 
since the death of her illustrious husband. Busi- 
ness problems and church problems alike have 
Deen carried to that higher wisdom for solution. 
The matter of selecting an editor for the 
Flag was one of the most difficult and important 
of the problems bequeathed her. Dr. Hall's will 
made no provision for that except that the Flag 
must continue on the straight Baptistic lines, and 
maintain the policies as before. There were var- 
ious aspirants and numerous advisors. Advisors 
disagreed. The courses advised were almost as 
various as human feature and form, and as oppo- 
site as the poles. | Earnestly was she exhorted 
to this course and that by real and pretending 
friends. Real friends had at heart only the good 
of the Flag and the preservation and advance- 
ment of the great work of Dr. Hall, with the hap- 
piness of his family. Pretending friends, of 
course, had "ax*s to grind." These have all been 
discovered in the light of subsequent events. 



Family Sketches. 15 

In the midst of this "choppy sea" of conflict- 
ing advice, with the future of a great enterprise 
at stake, Mrs. Hall turned to Him who never fails 
those that trust Him, and who call on Him in the 
time of trouble, and she fully believes that her 
trust was rewarded in the settlement of that most 
difficult problem. The written advice that has 
been preserved shows the anxiety of true friends 
for the success of the Flag, and false ones for its 
failure. 

One and a half years of successful solution 
of difficult situations and conduct of so large and 
intricate a business is a demonstration of Mrs. 
Hall's abilities, and the providence that brings 
things to pass in a way that men would never sus- 
pect, and at a time when they least think of such 
things. When Brother Hall died all people felt 
that the conducting of so large a business, and the 
editing of a paper so unique in its attitude, could 
not be continued without him. The writer agrees 
now that only for the divine hand, and power that 
can "do wonders in the earth," it could not have 
been done, even to the present. 

Mrs. Hall is a woman of sublime faith in the 
righteousness of the cause for which her husband 
lived and wrought and died, in the hosts of loyal 
Baptists that love the Flag, and for whose edi- 
fication and help the paper is published, and the 
God to whose glory all is dedicated, in the name 
of His Son, our Savior. This is what has sus- 
tained her in all of her difficulties, in business, in 
church and in long and painful bodily suffering" 



16 Memoirs of Eld. J. X. Hall. 

that has more than onca brought her \ery near 
the grave. 

This sketch is not intended as an eulogy so 
much as a glimpse at the situation for the benefit 
of those who love the Flag and those who do not. 
The success of the paper since Brother Hall's 
death carries its own eulogy. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE MAN. 

When such a great character passes away 
from view there is an intensifying of apprecia- 
tion of his gifts and labors. This sometimes leads 
to such extravagant eulogy as to make one think 
that the subject was more than 'man. But the 
highest encomium to any one is to pronounce him 

A MAN. 

When the Creator decided to crown his crea- 
tion he said "let us make man." This was the 
highest work of "all creative art/' Nothing 
higher than a man, except God himself.. Of none 
of the angels did he say : "Let us make" them "in 
our own likeness and imiage," but this was said 
of man. But man fell ; yes and was redeemed, 
and now a real man is the one with the "likeness 
Rvd image" restored in Christ, and displayed in 
the Christlike character. A real man is one bear- 
ing the image of Him, who is the brightness of 
the Father's glory and the express image of his 
person. To say then, that here is a man, comes 
next to saying here is a god. 

Among conspicuous men may' be found those 
whose lives are double and contradictory. The 
mere fact that a man is conspicuous is not evi- 
dence of greatness. The. empty barrel floats 



18 Memorials of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

higher on the tide than the one ladened with 
sweets. The merely conspicuous man is the drift- 
wood on life's stream while the great man controls 
and modifies the course and trend of the stream. 

Some men are great in reputation and small 
in character. Others are found poor in reputation 
and rich in character. 

Er. Hall was probably as near that as any 
modern hero of the cross. It was not infrequent 
to hear men give him a bad reputation. He was 
accused of destroying Baptist enterprises and 
catering to ignorance for mercenary reasons. We 
had often, before meeting Brother Hall, heard 
men say: "J. N. Hall is doing the Baptist denom- 
ination more harm than any other living man." 
He was known as "a ringleader of the kickers 
and splitters," a mere fault finder and fussy icon- 
oclast, a demagogue. So among a large element 
of Baptists he was thus decried. Others who 
dreaded his power employed still more derogatory 
epithets, and all together such enemies rejoiced 
at his death. But what say those who knew him 
best? To such he was a mighty character. Like 
all great soldiers he roused the enemy to battle, 
but elicited his admiration in victory. 

John Bunyan in his day, was considered only 
fit for the felon's cell, but how his character does 
loom up and grow as the generations pass! 

Dr. Hall would likely have been in jail as 
often and as long as either John Bunyan or the 
Apostle Paul if his enemies had been in power. 
The Christ indeed "made himself of no reputa- 
tion" that he might display the heavenly char- 



The Man. ld> 

acter. Men who have lived for reputation only, 
have died witnout character and are soon forgot- 
ten. Who ever thinks of Bob Ingersoll any more ? 
But men who live for right may die in ignominy. 
tut their lives are immortal. 

One of the most vivid and characteristic 
demonstrations of this is found in the Apostle 
Paul. His reputation among men was bad. Al- 
ways in trouble was he. Despised by his coun- 
try men, persecuted by Jews, persecuted by the 
heathen, and maligned by false Christians, he 
found himself a subject of the whipping post and 
prisons, of stones and stripes, and spending much 
of his time in jail. His reputation was bad, but 
what a character!! He was supposed to have been 
beheaded and thrown away like a worthless cur, 
but how that character grows and brightens with 
the ages! To some extent, indeed, this has been 
the heritage of earth's greatest benefactors. To 
know the real character of a man, one must get a 
clear view and come in contact with the real life- 
There must be a close-range vision, and a discov- 
ery of the real man. 

With these prefatory remarks, we come to take- 
a glance at the man. That includes all that goes 
to make a man, his name, character and achieve- 
ments. 

The purpose of this view is not to glorify the 
man, for he has left his own monument so strong 
and enduring that no calumny of enemies can 
darken its glory, nor the immortelles of loving eu- 
logy add to its beauty. 

Neither do we praise the man inordinately 



20 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

for doing his duty, in using his splendid talents 
for the glory of the Master and the blessing of 
men. And the writer is wholly unable to garnish 
so great a light among men. 

By this passing panorama of an illustrious 
life we only hope to benefit the living by a brief 
review of the splendid achievements of faith and 
the triumphs of faithfulness. 

Dr. John Newton Hall did no miore than all 
other sincere men may do. He used faithfully 
all of his gifts, facilities and opportunities that 
God gave him. He was responsible for remark- 
able gifts, and royally did he measure up to the 
responsibilities. This is the crowning glory of 
his illustrious life, and may God bless this review 
to stimulating us, who still live, to higher aspira- 
tions and more faithful service. 

It takes but a glance to see that God had 
endowed Dr. Hall with large gifts, and by the 
faithful use of them was brought out the marvel- 
ous achievements of his career. The first thing 
that impressed me on meeting him was his posi- 
tiveness. There were no "shades of belief" or de- 
grees of faith," with him. He admitted to his con- 
fidence no theory until its claims of righteous- 
ness had been weighed in the balance of 
truth, and tested in the crucible of logic. It 
was then fully and positively received, or as 
fully and positively rejected. With a mind 
of keen incisive and decisive analysis he dis- 
sected all hypotheses, and laid bare all fallacies, 
dividing the wheat from the chaff, storing the 
wheat in the garner of faith and knowledge and 



The Man. 21 

scattering the chaff to the whirlwinds of righteous 
rejection. He stood in such rugged contrast with 
the common practice of holding — not faith — but 
"shades of belief" and mongrel ideas, that he was 
considered cruel in his relentless opposition. Men 
questioned his motives because he would with- 
stand the ideas and teachings of great leaders. 
Who does not remember his conflict with the Sun- 
day School Board when "Lydia's Babe" was pub- 
lished by that board, though the power of the 
Southern Baptist Convention was back of the 
board? Mere sentiment had no place in his creed. 
He loved poetry, 

His voice, his manner, his pose and gestures 
were full of poetry, but that sublime poetry in- 
spired by the life and thrill of the powers of a 
world to come. None who heard his last sermon 
will ever forget the tides of heavenly rythm that 
swept the audience up to the gates of light, and in 
"through the gates into the city." 

He listened not to that which contained the 
Siren's song. His love was as positive as 
his faith. Its power was felt and enjoyed by 
all, fromi sacred precincts of the home clear out to 
the outer fringe of his stormy life. That love 
was as sweet and unreserved as it was unosten- 
tatious. All classes and conditions of men were its 
happy subjects. In this was displayed most pe- 
culiarly the Spirit of Him whose servant he was. 
Neither the railing of enemies nor the praising of 
friends could change the steady flow of that 
stream. Friends, like swine with pearls, having 
turned against and desiring to rend him, were 



22 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

still the objects of his unwavering love, Christian 
charity and liberal benefactions. He loved his en- 
emies and forgave the meanest of them without 
the asking-. 

Like all positive men, Dr. Hall aroused the 
most terrific antagonism. This was in propor- 
tion to his great powers to propagate and defend 
his faith. In the positive conflicts of stern convic- 
tion, he gave no quarter, and asked none. Tri- 
umph or defeat complete and sweeping, was his 
motto. "Victory or death was emblazoned on his 
escutcheon and lifted high to the terrified gaze of 
his antagonist. There was no place in his plans 
for compromise, capitulation or retreat. Those 
who engaged him understood his slogan as well 
as they dreaded his steel. He made no feints in 
the battle, and used no ruses to entrap the en- 
emy. He fortified himself in the truth, armed 
himself with the whole armor of God, and drew 
the sword of the Spirit in the open gaze of the 
powers of darkness. Some timid antagonists 
made mouths at him, and shouted "demagogue," at 
a safe distance, or after he was dead, and declared 
his sword a mere bludgeon ; but such had always 
avoided with wise discretion the sweep of that 
"bludgeon." After his death, too, some cowardly 
ones rushed from their ambush and declared his 
warfare an old-fashioned, antiquated and belated 
failure. These paid him the unintentional com- 
pliment of fighting in the armor that had long 
ago been cast off by the dress parade soldiers of 
cur times. In this old-fashioned armor the apos- 
tles and the faithful in all ages had won their vie- 



The Man. 23 

tories and gone to glory, leaving it to those who 
are strong enough to wear it. J. N. Hall hap- 
pened to be one of those mien. This "whole armor 
of God" is decidedly too heavy for many of the 
rosewater soldiers of our times. Its use requires 
battle at close quarters, while the modern warrior 
prefers a long-distance weapon. Such warriors 
call the old panoply an antiquated and out of date 
affair. To them the sword of the Spirit is a 
homely and useless old war club. 

Another characteristic that has really been 
anticipated, is the gift of courage. "Courageous 
to a fault," is an expression that I have heard con- 
cerning him. There are other men with positive 
convictions. Out of these convictions grow holy 
aspirations, and in them are formed noble reso- 
lutions ; but these aspirations and resolutions en- 
twine themselves feebly in each others arms and 
die for the lack of courage. The convictions are 
positive, but the certain consequences of their as- 
sertion being a war for their maintenance, the 
holder is appalled. He feels as but a grasshopper 
in comparison with the enemy yonder to do him 
battle. He believes in God, but his cowardly soul 
loses sight of God, while Satan ever lurks within 
his vision. Such cowering arouses in the coura- 
geous man both pity and contempt, while he seeks 
to inspire the cowardly soul to deeds of valor, but 
too often in vain. Today there is an army of men, 
we doubt not, among Baptists who are convinced 
cf the righteousness of Dr. Hall's contention that 
fear to make their convictions known, and fear 
more to take a stand upon them, because of the 



24 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

formidable nature of those powers that must be 
antagonized. Some have said to me that were it 
not for the fear that the Convention powers would 
destroy their usefulness, they would come out and 
take a stand. Such is the power of the Convention. 
These men believe the doctrines and admire those 
who fight the battles ; but lack the courage of their 
convictions. May this glance at the work of so 
notable a hero inspire such to enter the arena 
boldly. 

Dr. Hall feared not to assert his convictions 
in the presence of men or devils. He loved God, 
respected real men and despisd the devils. He 
feared God alone, and in His strength went forth 
to "fight the good fight of faith. " As he thus went 
forth it may be said of him that he "wrought 
righteousness, obtained promises, quenched the 
violence of fire, stopped the mouths of lions, out of 
weakness was made strong, waxed valiant in fight 
put to flight armies of aliens." Yes, armies of the 
aliens. Alienism received its rudest shocks at his 
hands, and it fears today, more than all others 
the voice of him who being dead yet speaketh. 
The encroachments of alienism have become ex- 
tensive and brazen since his death. Shall we 
allow its triumph? Shall those to whom has been 
committed the heritage of his achievements, the 
honor of his conflicts and the weapons of his 
warfare stand in cowardly silence in the presence 
of this ever aggressive enemy? None this side of 
the Apostle Paul has been more dreaded by the 
"aliens." His battlefield was as large as the realm 
of truth, and the scope of faith. Where others 



The Man. 25 

bared their heads to the giants of Armenianism, 
he but pressed the helmet of salvation the closer 
and defied the steel of heresy; where others 
capitulated, he tightened the armor about him 
with a fresh cinch of the girdle of truth. Where 
others fled the field, he but tightened his grip on 
the shield of faith and took a stronger hold on the 
sword of the Spirit. Where others surrendered, 
he plunged into the conflict and pressed on the 
battle with his feet shod with the preparation of 
the gospel of peace, until the aliens fled and his 
Flag waved on the summits of victory. 

The gifts already mentioned were especially 
effective by his splendid oratory. In listening 
to him I have felt to say that in this respect nature 
had done her finest work in him. No school of 
Gratory , or raving squirming elocutionist can 
lay any claims to having trained him. His elo- 
quence was his own. It was so striking and 
attractive because it had not been interfered with 
by the artificial polish of scholastic training. 
Being so free from all mannerisms so common to 
the preacher, he charmed the scholastic by his 
unscholastic eloquence and method. The uni- 
formity of the methods of speaking among those 
trained in the schools has become typical, mould- 
ing all men into the school pattern, but here 
arises a nan that is simply a whole university in 
himself, but a university so unique as to demand 
the admiration of all others. He had wrought 
out his own methods of thought and arrangement. 
He belonged to that great school of individu- 
ality that stands alone in the solitary enjoy- 



26 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

ment of its own glory. That oratory tow- 
ered above all ethers by -the simple im- 
pressive earnestness that filled every tone with 
a living music that thrilled the soul of the lis- 
tener. There was the gentle music of the rippling 
brook, rising until it assumed the majesty of the 
mountain torrent, sweeping all before it. 

Thus far we have spoken of his gifts. How 
about his attainments? Since his name does not 
appear on the rolls of any college or institution 
of learning, whait cf his scholarship? No schol- 
astic will dispute Br. Hall's scholastic attain- 
ments. His knowledge of literature and science 
has been tested by meeting and demolishing sci- 
entific skepticism. In the realm of Bible scholar- 
ship he stood at the head. This was everywhere 
recognized by his being called to meet the cham- 
pions of heresy of all shades, beliefs and unbe- 
liefs. As a Baptist he stood a head and shoulders 
above all others as a defender of the faith. Being 
a simple, Biblical student of the Bible, he became 
an intense believer in the doctrine of the suffici- 
ency of Scripture and the dignity and sovereignty 
of the church of the living God. 

All religious creeds and theories must stand 
the blaze of Revelation, and the alchemy of the 
Spirit. Man's wisdom counted for nought in the 
realm where the Word of God is given. Fine 
distinctions he threw aside and stood by the plain 
declarations of the Bible. 

With him all religious questions must be set- 
tled by the Scriptures, therefore, these things 



The Man. 27 

that come under the control of human wisdom 
and could not be settled by Scripture were imme- 
diately abandoned. To him the Scriptures were 
ever an all sufficient rule of faith and practice, 
in all things pertaining to Christian life. All of 
these great gifts and marvelous attainments were 
made glorious by the birth of the Spirit. Dr. 
Hall's genius and learning was such as to com- 
mand the respect of all men, but it was his Chris- 
tian life that most charmed those who came in 
contact with it. He believed the Bible and loved 
the Savior with all of the positiveness of his soul, 
and all of the grasp of his genius, and the highest 
thing about him was his humility. In the towns 
where he spent his life, and where the real man 
comes to view, there are none so lowly but that 
they speak of Brother Hall as their friend ; there 
are none so lofty but feel honored to say that 
"Brother Hall was my friend." People of all con- 
ditions, races and colors speak in the subdued 
tones of tender memory when they say tearfully 
that he was their friend. All honorable antag- 
onists acknowledge the greatness of the man dis- 
played in the sweetness of his spirit. 

There were few antagonists that were wor- 
thy of his steel. This few are among his greatest 
admirers, and delight to do him honor. There 
were those who sang his praises while in so doing 
they could advance their own interests, but have 
deserted the cause for which he stood since it 
could no longer be used for such purpose. But 
the great army of true blue are following with 
steady tread the lines of truth for which he stood, 



28 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

and fought, and died; and today join in the just 
encomium : 

Thou hero of the faith, well done. 

With thee, the battle fought and won. 

The armor bright, laid down 

[n honor, thou hast gained thy crown, 

And all the ages thou shalt know 

The blessings of thy toiling here below, 

Where, like thy Master, oft reviled 

Revilest not again, but smiled 

At all thy foes and blessed them. 



CHAPTER III. 

FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS. 

All history tells us now that events cluster 
about individuals. From the opening chapter of 
•'The Life and Epistles of Paul," by Conybeare 
and Howson, we have the following significant 
paragraph : 

"The life of a great man, in a -great period 
of the world's history, is a subject to command 
the attention of every thoughtful mind. Alex- 
ander on his Eastern Expedition, spreading the 
civilization of Greece over the Asiatic and Afri- 
can shores of the Mediterranean Sea — Julius 
Caesar contending against the Gauls and subdu- 
ing the barbarism of Western Europe to the order 
and discipline of Roman government — Charle- 
magne compressing the atoms of the Feudal 
world and reviving for a time the image of imper- 
ial unity — Columbus sailing westward over the 
Atlantic to discover a new world which might 
receive the arts and religion of the old — Napoleon 
in his rapid campaigns, shattering the ancient 
system of European states, and leaving a chasm 
between our present and the past — these are the 
colossal figures of history which stamped with 
the impress of their personal greatness the cen- 
turies in which they lived." 



30 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

The history of the world, both religious and 
secular, clusters largely around conspicuous indi- 
viduals. These individuals have always been the 
exponents and champions of some special princi- 
ples, or systems of principles. No one would 
think of writing a history of Rome and leave out 
Csesar and Cicero. The Bible history shines with 
a galaxy of great individuals, whose lives embody 
the times in which they lived and wrought. To 
know the history of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 
Moses and David, is to know the conditions round 
about them that gave color to their characters, 
and who also gave cast to the circumstances and 
environments among which they moved and lived. 

About the Christ gathered and surged the 
multitudes who showed forth the needs and condi- 
tions of that day. Blot out the Apostles as indi- 
viduals and the thrilling history of their -times 
would dwindle into naught but the heavy tramp 
of a burdened generation, like the preceding. 
But these men "that turned the world upside 
down" filled that and succeeding ages with a new 
and heavenly thrill, and sublime interest. 

Glorying in tribulations was a new interpre- 
tation of life, of which mortal had never before 
dreamed. The heroism of heing accursed for 
another's sake threw a new light into life's vari- 
gated and rasping interests that astonished the 
angels. 

What is known as modern Christianity must 
be judged by the lives of its Judsons, its Caries, 
its Spurgeons, its Fullers, its Wesleys, its Calvins, 
and its Luthers. These men all still live in the 



For Such a Time as This. 31 

ecclesiasticisms they formed, or with which they 
were identified. To know Wesley is to know the 
Methodism of his construction. So with all the 
Protestant reformers. So, too, with the Baptists. 
The spirit of their martyrs, ministers and mis- 
sionaries still lives in the bosom and lives of the 
people. To know Daniel Parker is to understand 
his times and his people. About him cluster all 
the elements of anti-Missionism that were crys- 
lalized by him into Hardshellism. Eliminate 
Daniel Parker and his kind and Hardshellism 
becomes an enigma. 

This backward glance gives an idea of the 
value of individuals that first get our attention 
and then arouse our interest in the times and con- 
ditions in which they live. 

The conditions of special importance among 
Baptists in these regions are those creating a 
relentless contest between the spirit of missions 
and that of anti-missions. In the early part of 
the last century this was supposed to have been 
fought out to a finish. The ultra Calvinistic or 
fatalistic doctrines of Parker and Taylor and 
others prevailed to a large degree, and their dead- 
ening influences were deeply felt. The fatalistic 
interpretations of the London creed disputed the 
progress of the gospel. But a man arose who 
was endowed by both nature and grace, for the 
superb work of preaching and defending the 
truth. That man was Elder Rubin Ross. One 
cannot read "The Life and Times of Rubin Ross" 
and not be impressed with both the man and the 
times in which he lived and labored. He was a 



32 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

lasting breakwater in the trend and flow of anti- 
Missionism, and the narrow and fatal doctrines 
out of which it grew. He boldly stood up and 
preached the glorious gospel of redeeming love to 
all men, the glad tidings of great joy to all people. 
The fierce opposition that he met with from that 
gospel of doom that, instead of bringing hope and 
joy, brought awful forebodings of destruction by 
election, did not deter the preacher of the gospel, 
but lent beauty and attractiveness to his hopeful 
message of light and life. But Rubin Ross died. 
Did his works die with him? Far from it. Oth- 
ers were in readiness to take up and carry it on. 
As the sun of Rubin Ross, J. S. Wilson and others 
dropped toward the horison of life, there arose 
the stars of J. M. Pendleton and J. R. Graves. 
These were made famous mostly by precipitating 
the "Landmark" controversy, and the continual 
exaltation of the doctrines of grace and the 
church of Christ. Pendleton's "Christian Doc- 
trines" rsnd Graves' "Seven Dispensations" are 
compendiums of their life work, and standard 
delineations of the teachings of Scripture. 

Pendleton died, and brought the ever-recur- 
ring question: "Who will take his place?" 
Graves lived on, and inch by inch sank to rest: 
his clarion voice ringing out almost from the 
other side. As year by year this hero of the faith 
drifted heavenward, the people asked: "And 
who will take his place?" There was soon a dis- 
covery that God is no more short of men than he 
is "slack concerning his promises." He was 
answering the question. A plain, unassuming 



For Such a Time as This. 33 

young man was rising into public notice; he was 
without scholastic advantages, or college pres- 
tige ; but J. R. Graves himself discovered his suc- 
cessor and is said to have remarked on hearing 
him the first time. That is a rising young man. 
If he lives he will be heard from in the future.'' 
That young man was Elder J. N. Hall. 

Since the days of John the Baptist, and of 
him who said he came not to bring peace but a 
sword, there has been going on a fierce conflict 
between the principles and doctrines of truth, as 
given from God, and other principles and doc- 
trines. Each age has had its special phases and 
methods of strife. Since the birth of Protestant- 
ism the attacks on the church and its doctrines have 
been from three general sources: Cathoticism, 
the ancient enemy that many centuries ago 
assumed the name of Christianity to hide the 
deformities of a paganized Judaism, still has con- 
tinued its assaults, but the birth of Protestantism, 
which was only a modified form of Romanism, 
engaged the attention of the "Mother church" to 
the extent that Baptists had an opportunity to 
grow, as never since the days of the Apostles. 
This manifest move of the church of Christ soon 
brought the enmity and opposition of the 
reformed papacy — Protestantism. The old 
enemy, liberalism, or infidelity, in its different 
phases, was aroused to fresh efforts by this for- 
ward move of "the truth as it is in Jesus." 

But there arose in the wake of Calvinistic 
theology, a sentiment of fatalism. This took 
advantage of the old fundamental doctrines of 



34 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

election and salvation by grace, and distorted 
these into a system of iron doom. This proved 
to be the greatest internal enemy that had yet 
appeared among Baptists. It is remarkable that 
this asserted itself just at a time when conditions 
became more favorable for the wider propaga- 
tion of the gospel. This fatalistic doctrine grew 
as the opportunities and spirit of gospel propaga- 
tion asserted itself, and when a determination to 
carry the gospel into the heathen world was 
announced, this idea became clearly denned in its 
active opposition to such evangelistic enterprise. 
It first clearly defined itself in England when Wil- 
liam Carey proposed to carry the light of truth 
into the regions of benighted India. The funda- 
mental basis of this opposition lay in two ideas : 
(1) That Christ made atonement for only a por- 
tion — a certain and definite number of the human 
race, and (2) that all for whom he died would be 
saved, by election, and without any conditions, 
contingencies, agencies, means of instrumentali- 
ties on the human side. The conclusion was inev- 
itable, that the preaching of the gospel as a mes- 
sage of salvation, was not only unnecessary, but 
an insult to the Almighty who would save the 
elect by unconditional decree. 

The fiercest conflicts between the dominant 
genius of Christianity and this ism occurred in 
this country of special Baptist liberty. The acute 
stage was produced by the announcement of the 
conversion of Adoniram Judson to Baptist views, 
and an appeal to American Baptists for his sup- 
port. Among American Baptists, and especially 



For Such a Time as This. 35 

in the regions with which this volume deals, this 
anti-Bap tistic, or anti-Christian, or anti-Mission- 
ism became relentless, as the spirit of missions 
grew in the churches, until at last the necessity 
came for. either the active co-operation in this 
great missionary work or a positive and active 
opposition to it. At this point Hardshellism dis- 
covered its opportunity for a plausible excuse for 
planting itself forever against the real progress 
of the gospel. This is now known as the "Black 
Rock Memorial." Here is anti-Missionism veiled 
in a just and righteous protest against the growth 
of another spirit and method that must bring its- 
troubles further on. "The Black Rock" and sim- 
ilar documents recite opposition to "the soci- 
eties," and disavow opposition to missions as 
such. This brought decisive division. Had the 
principles of the "Black Rock Memorial" been 
adhered to and practiced, there never would have 
been any Hardshell or Anti-Mission Baptists, — 
but there would have been many Gospel Mission 
Baptists. But the real genius that was veiled in 
that just protest displayed itself in its true colors 
in the teachings and works of a class of men, of 
whom Daniel Parker was the most perfect repre- 
sentative and exponent, and by these men, this 
new Baptist Protestantismi was crystallized into 
historic and contemporary Hardshellism. Under 
these heads have been arrayed every form of 
heresy and every form of infidelity. 

In the South, during the last century, this fa- 
talism, with the encroachments of Protestantism, 
lave been the principal enemies of the Baptist 



36 Memoirs of Eld. J. N .Hall 

faith; one disputing our claims to Scriptural and 
Apostolic origin, doctrine and polity, and the other 
disputing that as well as our efforts to propagate 
the gospel of salvation and peace among all men. 
Hardshellism became largely a negative force and 
system, that corresponded with its negative doc- 
trines. The only positive feature has been its 
positive opposition to the doctrine and work of 
missions, otherwise it is noted mainly for doing 
nothing. 

Protestantism, having failed to crush the 
Baptist faith by open outright war, has, during 
the last fifty years, been striving to insinuate the 
principles and methods that it received from. 
Romanism into our denominational life, polity 
and work. It has sought to despoil our claims to 
be the church by reducing us to a level with 
"one of the churches." The methods used to 
accomplish this have been that of "affiliation/" 
mainly, thereby leveling down the wall of partition 
placed by Christ between his church and all insti- 
tutions of men. In this way foreign methods 
have been brought into our denominational life 
that have become widespread and potent. But 
God has never left his cause without soldiers to 
defend the faith and dispute the progress of 
error and do battle for the truth. 

In the battles with Hardshellism in this sec- 
tion loom up Ross and Tandy, and Bourne and 
Wilson Then come Pendleton and Graves and 
others contending against both Hardshellism and 
Protestantism, the latter presenting itself in one 
wing of the opposing army under the euphonious 



For Such a Time as This. 37 

name of reformation, having emblazoned on its 
escutcheon the pretentious title of "The Christian 
Church;" its real name is Campbellism. 

Pendleton and Graves appeared almost 
simultaneously, as it were, to meet the double 
opposition of Campbellism and Protestantism. 
Standing in the closing conflicts of a defeated 
Hardshellism, they hoisted afresh the ancient 
Baptist ensign and in the face of a brazen simper- 
ing Protestantism that had largely gained sym- 
pathy among Baptist preachers these brave 
heroes of the- faith began looking about for the 
old Landmarks, that many seemed to be disposed 
to remove. Discovering these they drew again 
the Baptist lines straight by the Landmarks. 
This aroused the men who had been swerved by 
the spirit of Protestant affiliation, but it ended in 
apparent victory with Southern Baptists, and 
gave a stability and aggressiveness to the Bap- 
tist cause in the South which mark fifty years of 
Baptist progress unmatched by anything since 
the days of the Apostles. 

The Graves and Pendleton literature tell of 
the stern nature of the Landmark conflict and 
the indomitable faith and prowess that we delight 
•to honor. But the spirit of Protestant affiliation 
had sufficiently impressed its ideas and methods 
upon the life, and had taken root sufficiently deep 
to again put forth its leaves and bear its fruits 
after the passing of these two soldiers. The 
Landmark idea had been made so great and its 
principles so potent that' affiliationism itself 
adopted the name and scorns the old Landmark 



38 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

faith as a new upstart theory among Baptists. 
But all must be judged by their teachings and 
practices. Affiliation and Landmarkism cannot 
both be practiced, because the practice of either 
is the rejection of the other. This is sufficient 
to give any one a true and infallible rule to judge 
among Baptists. It is no new thing at this day 
to find Baptist preachers loudly claiming to be 
Landmark Baptists, and then proceed to invite 
Protestant and Campbellite preachers into their 
pulpits. Such men either presume on the ignor- 
ance of the people, or else they are careless of 
the truth. 

When Pendleton and Graves were called 
away, they left the battle going, and the forces 
against them still being Protestantism, Camp- 
bellism and Hardshellism. In the tri-cornered 
conflict comes up, with almost startling sudden- 
ness the titanic figure of John Newton Hall. It 
fell to his lot to combat all these forces. Hard- 
shellism kept comparatively quiet during his life 
but came stalking forth upon his death. Camp- 
bellism, Conventionism (or Affiliationism) and 
Hardshellism rejoiced at' his departure. They 
felt thai a common foe had been removed. 

It is expedient here, and fair to all, that we 
Tjrie^y define the species of Conventionism 
opposed by Dr. Hall. Here we set forth the 
principle of conventionism rather than its multi- 
form expression. The real convention principles 
are papal, and have come through Protestantism, 
and by affiliation into the Baptist life. The prin- 
ciple as fully expressed, has the individual as the 



For Such a Time as This. 39 

unit of organization, and money as the basis of 
representation. The convention is formed exactly 
like any other stock or trust company. Those 
paying $250 have a voting privilege, as a stock- 
holder having one share. These stockholders 
meet, elect a board of directors ; this board elects 
a president, a vice-president, secretary and trea-. 
surer. This board of directors selects a general 
manager called a corresponding secretary. This 
man manages the whole business of the con- 
cern. This secretary then appeals to the 
churches for money for this corporation to 
do business on. If the individual represented 
his own money, and the business was done on the 
stock thus paid in, the case would be somewhat 
different, but it is all money given by the 
churches. This board of directors elects its mis- 
sionaries, selects their fields, controls them while 
on their fields and dismisses them at will. The 
church does nothing but furnish the money. 

Under this plan has grown up a system of 
combined religious, educational and benevolent 
enterprise entirely outside of and beyond the con- 
trol of the church and' New Testament law. The 
convention being sovereign in itself, dictates the 
terms of membership, and no church action can 
affect it. Nothing but so many dollars can gain 
a seat in this body. Church Authority cannot seat 
a messenger without money, but the money will 
procure a seat without church authority. This is 
because the law of the convention is above that of 
the church which furnishes the money. This prin- 
ciple leaves nothing in the hands or the control 



40 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

of the church, either educational, philanthropic 
or evengelistic. These are all controlled by con- 
vention agencies, as are, indeed, the churches 
themselves. 

This conventionism is contrary to the demo- 
cratic principles taught and enjoined by New 
'Testament law and believed and advocated by 
Baptists in all ages. Men always insist on putting 
the power in the hands of a despotism, or an oli- 
garchy, putting the authority and control in the 
hands of one man, or a few men. The New Testa- 
ment law puts the sovereignty into the hands of 
the people. One is the centralization of authority, 
the other the dissemination of authority. The 
liberties of the Baptists depend upon the sustain- 
ing of the latter law, which makes the church su- 
preme authority. 

The growth, strength and spirit of conven- 
tionism began some years ago to cause a restless- 
ness and feeling of apprehension and discontent 
among Baptists who still believed in the sover- 
eignty, liberty and efficiency of the churches, and 
who disbelieved in affiliation. Conspicuous 
among, and in the very thick of the fight, for the 
prerogatives of the church, there waved a Flag, 
with a mighty soldier grasping its staff with one 
hand and wielding the sword of the Spirit with 
the other. This man was the hero of this volume, 
who had come to the kingdom for such a time as 
this. 

That conventionism is the fruits of affiliation 
is seen in the fact that highly developed conven- 
tion churches are affiliationists. Campbellites 



For Such a Time as This. 41 

and pedoes, and Hardshells even, will be received 
into their pulpits, while Landmark Baptists are 
shut out. "Union meetings" are getting to be 
common with convention Baptists. The papal 
idea of conquest is also dominant among them. 

Dr. Hall did not object to conventions and 
boards as such. Conventions may be only the 
convening of messengers of an association of 
churches. Boards may be committees appointed 
by the churches to carry out the will of the 
churches. Any system that recognizes the sover- 
eignty of the churches had his approbation. He 
opposed that which shut the churches and their 
supreme authority out of the general bodies and 
made money the basis of representation, instead 
of church authority. He stood on the middle 
ground between radical conventionism, as seen 
in the Southern Baptist Convention, on the one 
hand, and the radical anti-conventionism as seen 
in extreme Gospel Missioners of non-organization 
type on the other hand, recognizing the good and 
true that he saw in each and opposing what he 
considered the wrong in both. 

The purity of our denominational literature 
was always a matter of special interest and effort 
on Dr. Hall's part. His war on the "Lydia's Ba- 
by" incident well commemorates this. 

As soon as Dr. Hall raised his Flag on the 
parapets of truth, and buckled on the armor, he 
was attacked from every quarter — convention, 
Hardshell, Campbellite, Protestant and infidel — 
being attacked even scurrilously by supposed 
friends. How well he fought and bore aloft the 



42 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

symbol of the rights of the church, and the main- 
tenance of her Christ-given liberties and doc- 
trines, the pages of this volume will set forth. 

"Sleep on, hero, the glories of thy conflict 
cast a halo round about thy resting." 



CHAPTER IV. 

AN OLD LANDMARK RESET. 

Ought Baptists to Invite Pedobaptists to Preach 
ire Their Pulpits 1 

J. M. PENDLETON. 

In the discussion of this question opinions 
which have originated from our feelings and par- 
tialities should, as far as possible, be discarded. 
An honest and an earnest desire to know the 
truth should gain ascendancy of the heart; for 
then there will be a willingness to adopt the con- 
clusions to which the truth leads. "Buy the truth 
and sell it not," is the language of reason as well 
as revelation. There is no advantage in error. 
So far from it, it is mischievous, hurtful, per- 
nicious. A false principle in science operates 
injuriously until its unsoundness is detected. An 
error committed in laying -the foundation of a 
government diffuses its influence throughout the 
superstructure reared on that foundation. Error 
can never be harmless, and even should it be ap- 
parently so, it is owing to the counteracting pres- 
ence and operation of truth. There is no faith so 
important as that which God has revealed in his 
word. All other truth yields to( the superior 
value of truth divine. The injunction — "Buy the 
truth and sell it not" — is eminently wise. The 



44 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

truth is a jewel of such transcendent worth that 
it ought to be bought at any price and sold at no 
price. Let him who secures this jewel retain it. 
Let him not consider its alienation from him a 
possible thing. Let life be surrendered rather. 

The question, Ought Baptists to recognize 
Pedobaptist preachers as gospel ministers? — 
must receive either an affirmative or negative an- 
swer. It does not admit an ambiguous response. 
The truth is in the affirmative or negative. And 
the writer will aim to show that truth requires 
the question to be answered negatively. Some, 
perhaps, will say there is great uncharitableness 
in my object, and that nothing but bigotry could 
prompt me to attempt the execution of such an 
cbjeet. Others in their sudden astonishment will 
probably say, "He is beside himself." And others 
still may exclaimi, "He is throwing himself beyond 
the circumference of the sympathies of all evan- 
gelical denominations." "But none of these 
things move me." With me it is a very small 
thing that I should be judged of man's judgment: 
he that judgeth me is the Lord." ***** 

In this day of spurious liberality and false 
charity much is said about evangelical denomina- 
tions and evangelical churches. What is an evan- 
gelical denomination? A denomination whose 
faith and practice correspond with the gospel. 
What is an evangelical church? A church formed 
according to the New Testament model. Pedo- 
baptist denominations, therefore, are not evan- 
gelical. Pedobaptist churches, as they are called", 
pre not evangelical. There is supposed to be a 



An Old Landmark Reset. 45 

wonderful virtue in the epithet evangelical. It is 
used as a balm for many a wound, as a plaster for 
many a sore. Its application to a denomination 
is thought to bring the denomination at once 
within the pale of respectability and fellowship. 
It is used with an injurious latitude of meaning. 
It gives currency to many doctrines and prac- 
tices which deserve emphatic condemnation. 
"'Evangelical Alliances," so called, may, for aught 
I know, have done some good ; but there is danger 
lest they infuse greater vitality and energy into 
the errors of those who enter into the copartner- 
ship. The religious nomenclature of the age 
requires serious revision. It is high time to call 
things by names expressive of their properties. 
The language of Ashdod should not be heard 
within the precincts of Zion. Nor should the 
language of Zion be employed in describing what 
"belongs to Ashdod. More, perhaps, is meant by 
**the form of sound words," than most persons 
imagine. But to return from this apparent 
digression. 

If Pedobaptist Societies are not churches of 
Christ, whence do their ministers derive their 
authority to preach? Is there any scriptural 
authority which does not come through a church 
cf Christ? And if Pedobaptist ministers are not 
in Christian churches, have they any right to 
preach ? That is to say, have they any authority 
according to the gospel? They are doubtless 
authorized by the forms and regulations of their 
respective societies. But do they act under a 
commission, some of the injunctions of which 



46 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

they utterly disregard. The ordinance of bap- 
tism in its action and subject they pervert. They 
change the order of the ascending Savior's last 
commission, and administer what they call bap- 
tism to infants who give no proof of discipleship. 
and who are naturally incapable of going through 
the process of disciploship. Are we at liberty to 
bid those men "God speed" and aid them in de- 
ceiving the world, by acknowledging their soci- 
eties as churches, and themselves as veritable 
gospel ministers, who invert the order established 
by the Head of the Church? 

Would Pedobaptists recognize as a minister 
of Christ a good man whomi they consider unbap- 
tized, and consequently disconnected from what 
they would term every "branch of the church?" 
They would not. They would' say to such a man, 
"We would not judge your heart — we do not deny 
your piety, etc., but we cannot countenance you 
as a preacher as long as you remain unbaptized 
and sustain no ecclesiastical relation." This is 
in substance what they would say, and I ask if 
Baptists should not look on Pedobaptist minis- 
ters just as the latter would look on unbaptized 
men who might choose to go forth and preach? 
If Pedobaptists are unwilling to recognize as min- 
isters of the gospel men who, in their judgment 
have ever been baptized, why should Baptists 
be expected to do so? Consistency, so far from 
requiring it, requires the very opposite. Pedo- 
baptists cannot reasonably complain of us, for in 
this we act on the principle which their practice 
sanctions. Believing their preachers unbaptized^ 



An Old Landmark Reset. 47 

we cannot with the shadow of propriety recog- 
nize them as gospel ministers. If Jesus Christ 
intended that his ministers should be the servants 
of the church — and have the sanction of the 
church in their work — who can be a minister of 
Christ, according to the gospel, without belonging 
to the church? No one will say that a church 
can send forth a man to preach who does not be- 
long to her body, and over whom she has no juris 
diction. The writer does not say there are not 
pious, devoted men in the Pedobaptist ministry, 
but he denies that they have scriptural authority 
to preach. He denies in reference to them just 
what they would deny in reference to a pious 
Quaker minister. The so-called baptism of a 
Pedobaptist preacher is no more authority for 
preaching than the no baptism of a Quaker. The 
former is as evidently out of the church as the 
latter. It is as well to discard an ordinance alto- 
gether as to pervert and caricature it. Neither 
Pedobaptists nor Quakers have baptism among 
them, and "where there is no baptism there are 
no visible churches." 

Now, if Pedobaptist preachers do not belong 
to the church of Christ, they ought not to be rec- 
ognized as ministers of Christ. But they are so 
recognized wherever Baptist ministers invite 
them to preach or exchange pulpits with them. 
As to calling them to pray, it is a different mat- 
ter; for men ought to pray whether they are in 
the church or not. "But to invite them into our 
pulpits to pray, is to recognize them before the 
world as gospel ministers, since custom conse- 



48 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

crates the pulpit to acknowledged gospel minis- 
ters, and therefore, when we act with them in a 
ministerial capacity, speak of them as gospel 
ministers, or receive their acts as those of gospel 
ministers, we plainly and "more loudly than with 
trumpet tongue," proclaim them gospel ministers, 
and consequently their societies as gospel 
churches — and if so why not commune with 
them?" — J. R. Graves. But they ought not to 
preach unless they have membership in the 
church of Christ. To this all will agree who have 
scriptural baptism, as well as those who substi- 
tute it for that which is no baptism. Baptists 
and Pedobaptists differ materially. Their views 
are totally dissimilar as to the design of baptism, 
the elements that enter into the composition of a 
gospel church, the form) of government, etc. 
These differences are by no means non-essential ; 
but a recognition of Pedobaptist preachers as 
gospel ministers is a virtual proclamation of their 
non-essentiality. The people so understand it. 
They are ready to say that there can be no mater- 
ial differences between the views of ministers 
who exchange pulpits and perform other acts of 
ministerial recognition. And thus the custom of 
exchanging pulpits, originating, as it probably 
did, in the excess of an unscriptural charity, has 
a tendency to obliterate the line of demarcation 
between truth and error. Many a man no doubt 
has become a Pedopabtist because Baptists have 
so acted as to make the impression that there is 
no great difference between them and their oppo- 
nents. Alas, that there are some Baptists whose 



An Old Landmark Reset. 49 

disposition to compromise with adversaries leads 
them to act as if they were not only ashamed of 
their distinctive principles, but wished everybody 
else to be. I am heartily ashamed of such Bap- 
tists. 

If it is not absurd to suppose such a thing, 
let it be supposed that there were persons in the 
apostolic times corresponding to modern Pedo- 
baptists. Can any Baptists believe that Paul, 
beholding the practices of such persons — seeing 
the sprinkling of infants substituted for the im- 
mersion of believers — would recognize the min- 
isters of such sects as ministers of Christ, acting 
according to the gospel? Surely not. Paul 
would have protested against such a caricature 
of the Christian system. He would have said 
to such ministers, "Will ye not cease to pervert 
the right ways of the Lord?" The great apostle 
would have done nothing that could have been 
construed into a connivance at error. And why 
should Baptists now? 

We have reasons "to thank God and tak? 
courage" that our number in the United States 
is now over 4,000,000 members, and that it is 
constantly increasing. But would we not' have 
been much more numerous than we are if we had 
had no more religious intercourse with Pedobap- 
tists in the days of the persecution in Virginia 
and Massachusetts? There cannot be a rational 
doubt of it. All compromises with Pedobaptists 
have been disadvantageous to Baptists, and they 
will always be. These dishonorable compromises 
have ever involved an implied understanding that 



50 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

Baptists were not to preach the whole truth on 
the subject of baptism. The teachings of the 
New Testament on this subject are held in abey- 
ance. No man, it is true, can preach the whole 
gospel and leave baptism out; but in these Union 
Meetings it is thought best to leave it out for 
the sake of harmonious co-operation. It is to be 
hoped that the day of these Union Meetings is 
passed away, never to return. It is time for it to 
be understood that Baptists and Pedobaptists can 
not "walk together," because they are not 
"agreed." The impossibility of "walking 
together" without agreement was recognized in 
the days of the prophets, and why should there 
be a vain effort to make an impossibility then a 
possibility now? Every such effort is unwise, 
and involves on the part of Baptists a sacrifice 
of principle. 

It is often said by Pedobaptists that Baptists 
act inconsistently in inviting their ministers to 
preach with them, while they fail to recognize 
them at the Lord's table. I acknowledge the in- 
consistency. It is a flagrant inconsistency. No 
one ought to deny it. Booth, in his "Vindication 
of the Baptists from the charge of Bigotry in 
refusing to commune with Pedobaptists at the 
Lord's table," does not and cannot refute this 
charge of inconsistency. It defies refutation, and 
the only way to dispose of it is to take away the 
foundation on which it rests. Let Baptists cease 
to recognize Pedobaptist preachers as ministers 
of the gospel, by inviting them to preach, and the 
charge of inconsistency will be heard no more. 



An Old Landmark Reset. 51 

Our refusal to commune with Pedobaptists 
grows out of the fact that they are unbaptized, 
and out of the church. We say they have no 
right to commune as unbaptized persons. Pedo- 
baptists, however, have as much right to com- 
mune unbaptized as they have to preach unbap- 
tized. That is to say, they have no right to do 
either. The Baptist argument on "Communion" 
possesses great power, but it is paralyzed when- 
ever Pedobaptists can say, "You invite our 
ministers to your pulpits, but you do not invite 
u S to commune with you." Let Baptists repudi- 
ate the inconsistency that most of them have been 
guilty of for half a century, and then their De- 
fense of Close Communion will be perfectly 
triumphant. It will stand a tower of strength, 
against which Pedobaptists will vainly turn their 
artillery. No Baptist who recognizes Pedobap- 
tist preachers as ministers will ever write a con- 
sistent Treatise on Communion. It is high 
time for all our brethren to know this. Consist- 
ency requires that while we fail to invite Pedo- 
baptists to the Lord's table, we should not 
maintain ministerial intercourse with their 
preachers. 

And another thing follows : The official acts 
cf Pedobaptist preachers have no validity in 
them. Their falsely so-called baptisms are a nul- 
lity. Immersions administered by them ought to 
be repudiated by Baptists. How is it? Pedo- 
baptist ministers are not in the visible kingdom 
of Christ. How then can they induct others into 
it by baptism ? Can they introduce others where 



52 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

they have not gone themselves? Would it not be 
a violation of all governmental analogies to allow 
those to act as officers of a kingdom who are not 
citizens of that kingdom? It may be argued that 
in case of necessity an irregular act is not an 
involid act. As to immersions by Pedobaptist 
preachers there is no necessity, and never was. 
There are Baptist ministers enough to administer 
baptism, and they love to do it. It is high time 
for those who ridicule immersion and yet perform 
it rather than lose a valuable member, to be dis- 
countenanced. They deserve the contempt of all 
honorable men. They are willing, for selfish and 
sectarian purposes, to perform an act in the name 
of the Sacred Three, and yet make light of that 
act! Such men I leave in the hands of a merciful 
God. 

I have now attempted to establish the posi- 
tion that Baptists ought not to recognize Pedo- 
baptist preachers as gospel ministers. Whether I 
have accomplished my object, I leave for others 
to say. In conclusion, I will notice some of the 
objections which will probably be urged against 
the view here presented. Pedobaptists will say, 
This doctrine repels us from our "Baptist breth- 
ren." The time has been when this would have 
been a recommendation of rather than an ob- 
jection to the doctrine. In other days repulsion 
from, was considered more desirable that attrac- 
tion to, "Baptist brethren." The sentiment was 
once fearfully prevalent that Baptists were more 
worthy of prisons, fagots and death, than of pul- 
pits and communion tables. What country has 



An Old Landmark Reset. 53 

not witnessed their martyr sufferings? What 
soil has not been stained with their blood? They 
have been persecuted by Rome Pagan and by 
Rome Papal; for the latter inherited all the 
cruelty of the former. Rome has ever found FIRE 
her most effectual argument. 

In the early part of the sixteenth century 
the light of Luther's reformation began to dawn 
on Europe, and Baptists probably began to flatter 
themselves that the! days of persecution were 
ended. But this was not so. Luther was not 
their friend — Zunglius thought them worthy of 
death — and the true idea of religious liberty nev- 
er entered Calvin's mind. These eminent Re- 
formers were in several respects more nearly 
allied to Romanists than to Baptists. 

And who does not know that Protestant En- 
gland has had a prominent agency in the work 
of persecution? Who does not remember the 
inhuman saying of Rogers at the burning of a 
Baptist? "Burning alive," said he, "was no cruel 
death, but easy enough." 

It seems from testimony not to be disputed 
that Edward Wightman was the last person "that 
suffered this cruel kind of death (burning) in 
England; and it may be remarked, that William 
Sawtre, the first that suffered in that manner for 
his religious opinions was supposed to have de- 
nied infant baptism; so that this sect had the 
honor both of leading the way, and bringing up 
the rear of all the martyrs who were burnt alive 
in England, as well as that great number of those- 
who suffered' this death for their religion, in the 



54 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

two hundred years between, were of this denom- 
ination." 

This is Pedobaptist testimony, and let it 
speak for itself. 

Who has not read the story of Baptist suffer- 
ing in the Colony of Virginia before the Revolu- 
tion? There are persons now alive whose ances- 
tors preached through prison grates in that re- 
nowned commonwealth. And the sterile soil of 
Massachusetts has been enriched with Baptist 
blood. Puritans shed it — men who braved the 
dangers of the deep that they might enjoy reli- 
gious liberty, and since then Baptists have risen 
in the scale of respectability that sects, which 
once looked upon them with disdain, now court 
alliance with them. Beware, Baptists, beware. 
Whipping and fining and imprisonment are not 
the only methods by which you can be injured. 
There is the embrace of apparent love which is 
the embrace of death. Error loves to ally itself 
to truth and the interests of truth suffer by every 
such alliance. 

It will probably be said the position of the 
author of this treatise is in conflict with the char- 
ity of the gospel. If so, "it is a grievous fault." 
There is no term used more frequently than char- 
ity — there is none more strangely misunderstood. 
A man of charity is generally supnosed to pos- 
sess what are termed "liberal principles," and 
those who have these liberal principles, in nine 
cases out of ten, have no fixed principles at all. 
"Charity rejoiceth IN the truth." That is a 
spurious charity which does not recognize truth 



An Old Landmark Reset. 55 

as a jewel of priceless value. It is a misfortune 
that the severance of truth and charity has ever 
Leen considered a possible thing. 

True charity will prompt Baptists not to con- 
nive at the errors of Pedobaptists, but to protest 
perpetually against those errors. And this is 
done most effectually by a decided advocacy of the 
truth and an emphatic condemnation of whatever 
militates against it. How can Baptists utter a 
consistent, sensible, effective protest against the 
many errors of Pedobaptism if they recognize Pe- 
dobaptist preachers as gospel ministers? It can- 
not be done. But a refusal to recognize them 1 in 
this capacity is an impressive condemnation of 
their errors. True charity prompts this course.. 

Some faint-hearted Baptists may say that if 
the sentiment advocated by the writer is made 
practical it will bring great unpopularity and 
odium on the Baptist denomination. This objec- 
tion is scarcely worthy of consideration. The 
question refers not to unpopularity and odium, but 
to right and truth. What is right? is the inquiry. 
What does a jealous maintenance of truth demand 
of us? Popularity is a bauble, dependent for its 
existence on the capricious direction public opin- 
ion takes. Jesus, our Savior, was unpopular. His 
doctrines were unpopular. The first Christians 
were unpopular. We shall have illustrious prede- 
cessors in unpopularity. And the advantage of 
cur consistency will more than neutralize the dis- 
advantages of unpopularity. 

Odium! What Baptist is afraid of odium? 
If our people are not yet familiarized with it they 



56 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

ought to be; for the very day Paul was taken a 
prisoner to Rome our sect "was everywhere 
spoken against." There has been time enough and 
opportunity enough from then until now to learn 
to bear odium patiently. Light is adapted to the 
eye — sound to the ear — birds to the air — fishes to 
the water and Baptists to odium. There .is no 
cause of complaint. 

It will probably be said that the tendency of 
these views will be to interfere with the social 
relations of neighborhoods and communities? 
The writer thinks otherwise. Why should there 
be any rupture of social ties ? There is no neces- 
sity for it. I will illustrate : The officers of Ma- 
sonic Lodges are not invited into Odd Fellows 
Halls and vice versa. This is no interference with 
the social relations of the two orders. 

Episcopal preachers do not recognize the 
preachers of other denominations as gospel min- 
isters, nor do I know that the social relations of 
neighborhoods are affected thereby. There is no 
good reason why they should be. I would have 
Baptists, as neighbors and citizens, to exemplify 
every social virtue ; but let them not do that which 
will inevitably be construed into a connivance at 
what they deem material errors. The question 
must be, What is right? And they must dare 

TO DO RIGHT, LET THE CONSEQUENCES BE AS THEY 
MAY. 

Of reformers, alias Campbellites, I have said 
nothing, because, as they reject infant baptism 
they cannot be placed in the same class with Pedo- 
baptists. Important arguments, conclusive 



An Old Landmark Reset. , 57 

against the latter, would be without force or 
pertinency in their application to the former. I 
take it for granted that ministerial and religious 
intercourse between Baptists and Campbellites 
would be utterly unjustifiable. They differ fun- 
damentally in their views of repentance, faith, 
regeneration, justification, the influences of the 
Holy Spirit, the design of baptism, etc., etc. 
They are not "agreed," and they cannot walk 
together. An attempt to do so would involve deep 
hypocrisy and a culpable sacrifice of principle. 

If, for the sentiments presented in this treat- 
ise, the author should be stigmatized as a bigot, 
while the justice of the charge is positively denied, 
he is willing, if need be, to wear the stigma till 
death shall efface it. 

Bowling Green, Ky. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE EVILS OF RELIGIOUS LIBERALISM.. 

BY JUDS.ON TAYLOR. 

Liberalism has taken the place of persecu- 
tion. Persecution killed men, but prospered the 
cause; whilst Liberalism kills the cause by flat- 
tering men Into compromises. Persecuted Truth 
has survived in all ages, but Compromised Truth 
never survives the fatal tragedy in which the 
voice of God is only made equal to the voice of 
human tradition. Persecution is the act of an en- 
emy agarast the truth, but Compromise is the act 
of a professed friend. God engages to counteract 
and overrule opposition, but heaven has no prom- 
ise for that ill that deliberately sacrifices the 
truth of God, either from fear or for the applause 
cf ■ men. So of the two,Persecution is far prefer- 
able to the Liberalism that claims the various de- 
nominations of the times as all "churches" or 
"branches" of the church of Christ. 

While the Baptists stood the raging blast of 
the Pope for more than a thousand years, yet it 
is a fact many of our churches are now shorn of 
all their strength whilst sleeping upon the lap of 
this bewitching Delilah of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. But the song is so sweet and the lap is so 



The Evils of Religious Liberalism. 59 

fragrant that thousands of silly Baptists throw 
aside the habiliments of their strength and lull 
down into the sweet but deathly sleep of popular 
""Liberalism" of the day. "Not to speak against 
the religious opinions of others," has become the 
IDEAL of this age — claiming to display the highest 
finish in Christian etiquette. Had they equipped 
the Apostle Paul with this sort of cheap heraldry, 
he would have escaped all those "bonds and im- 
prisonments" he so constantly suffered "for 
Christ's sake." But were Paul here today, he 
would prefer persecution rather than sit grace- 
fully primped in the most magnificent gate of 
smiling applause;. sweetly fellowshipping seven 
faiths differing from each other, and yet all 
cladmting to be the church of Christ. This is the 
error of the age. In the very nature of the case, 
such a thing as fellowship between warlike faiths 
cannot exist, only in a diseased fancy; for if you 
believe a thing, you don't believe its opposite; or 
if you love a teaching, you necessarily disapprove 
of all that is contrary to it. The Baptists and 
Eoman Catholics for more/ than ten centuries 
prior to the days of Martin Luther, were the im- 
mediate opposites to each other in all their faith 
and practice; and there was, consequently, no 
such things known in all that long period as "Lib- 
eralism." True Baptists have ever maintained 
charity for men, but none whatever for error. 

There ought to be no affiliation between er- 
ror and truth. There was not one particle of 
compromise between Christ and the miserable 
traditions of the Jews of his day. Paul fought 



60 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

the Apostle Peter "face to face, giving place by 
subjection, no, not for an hour," just because Pe- 
ter's Liberalism would have been the death knell 
tc the prosperity of the gospel. Hence, in its 
very first appearance in the church at Anioch, 
Paul an^ others administred a death blow to the 
trouble. 

Wr list Christ and' the apostles loved souls, 
they in no' case showed courtesy to the errors 
taught by those souls. Let us, therefore, set for- 
ward in this matter by discriminating between 
the true and false charity, or false love. "Char- 
ity that suffereth long and is kind" is certainly 
the most noble thing that goes abroad upon the 
face of the earth. It came right out of the best 
courts of heaven to people this globe with sons 
of glory, who are to rank above angels, and gath- 
er around them the richest estates of Him who is 
sole heir of boundless treasures. But how unlike, 
both in character and destiny, is the false char- 
ity of this time-serving and "sect"-adoring age. 
Religious Liberalism is not this "charity that 
thirketh no evil;"but when unmasked is seen to 
be 7 ove for self that thinketh to sell the truth of 
God, and buy therewith the applause of men. 

True "charity rejoiceth in the truth," but 
much that is called charity these times is ashamed 
of the truth, and rebukes it for being harsh in 
*one and outlandish in conduct. 

True charity looks upon the word of God as 
its eternal support; but Religious Liberalism has 
more trouble with the Bible than it has with all 
the errors of the age in which it lives. Why? 



The Evils of Religious Liberalism. 61 

Because it sets out to befriend all the denomina- 
tions of the times; whereas, the Bible only en- 
dorses the ''One Body," the church of Christ; 
rebuking all things unlike it. 

If Jesus and the "twelve" were here today, 
their plainness of speech would run the religious 
denominations of the times raving mad; and it 
would not be twelve months till North America 
would be afire with religious controversy. This is 
not an age of plain and faithful dealing, but it is 
sn age pre-eminently of false Liberalism, grow- 
ing rank as weeds ten feet high ! The devil, who 
is the religious (?) liar of the universe, has 
changed his tactics, and now makes it his busi- 
ness to persuade the "holy saints" to quit their 
quarreling with each other. It is the high pre- 
rogative of this modern Religiousness to rebuke 
any man who now-a^days dares to say there is 
only ONE Lord, ONE faith, and ONE baptism; at 
the same time to award highest premiums to that 
man or that sect who can fellowship the greatest 
number of faiths and the greatest number of 
churches. Never, till now, did Satan claim seven 
times seventy churches (?) for the "Bride of 
Christ." Since the days of Luther, Calvin, Wes- 
ley, Henry the Eighth, Campbell, etc., instead 
of being Catholics many are "Protestants" oc- 
cupying half way ground between Roman Cath- 
olics and Baptists, who, with uncompromising 
zeal for the pure doctrines of the gospel, endured 
the bloody wars of Popedom for more than a 
thousand years. Protestants are in miserable 
business when they take a Catholic by one arm 



62 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

and a Baptist by the other and try to make th -ir 
doctrines kiss each other. Now, all these inter- 
mediate tribes constitute what may be called a 
compromise between Roman Catholics and Bap- 
tists, for they tach Catholic doctrines and Bap- 
tists, for they teach Catholic doctrines and Bap- 
between the two original disputants, they try to 
endorse that which the "Virgin of Christ" and 
the old "Harlot," never could. Lutherans, Pres- 
byterians, Methodists, Campbellites, etc., often 
vie with the others in extolling to the heavens 
the noble excellencies of the newly formed "church 
alliance." But true Baptists are afflicted with. 
such an amount of truth they can't get along 
with error. Their hearts are as loving as the 
Lord Jesus Christ can make them, but their doc- 
trines are as stubborn as that old unmanageable 
book called the Bible. When Catholics and Bap- 
tists occupied the world all alone for many hun- 
dreds of years prior to the Protestants, there was 
no such thing as Religious Liberalism; but soon 
after Luther, Calvin, Wesley and the religious 
company of the nineteenth century appeared, 
"Patent-Right" churches sprang up all over the 
land like mushrooms, the indigenous growth of a 
night. 

Try all this? Answer: Because there was 
not enough difference between them to quarrel 
over ; and so they quit it and began to talk of a 
newly-made something Catholics and Baptists 
never heard of, calling it by the world-taking 
le of "Religious Liberalism." I say let Lu- 
ther, Calvin, Wesley and Campbell try their cour- 



The Evils of Religious Liberalism. 63 

tesies on the Pope of Rome by giving him direct 
credit for more than half of the doctrines they 
teach; for "partial depravity," "infant member- 
ship," "sprinkling and pouring," "falling from 
grace," "baptismal remission," "an unconverted 
membership," and an "undemocratic church gov- 
ernment" were all taught by Catholics and bit- 
terly opposed by Baptists many hundred years 
before Luther, Calvin, Wesley or Campbell 
brought forth their respective churches to help 
the Pope teach the self-same doctrines. 

Or, if they continue to press upon us Bap- 
tists their wonderful peace gospel, we suggest 
that they acknowledge our supreme devotion to 
the Word of God in the ages past, when to speak 
the truth was but to die, and not to speak was to 
leave the world in total darkness. This late in- 
vention speaks on this wise: "We Liberalists 
are not so anxious to endorse you Baptists as we 
are for you Baptists to indorse us." Liberalism 
never was at all liberal toward Baptists, but 
never ceases its cries for us to endorse many 
things at war with our quickened consciences. 
It is the trick of the age, and was gotten up for 
one of two purposes, viz: Either to seduce the 
Baptists from the faith from which Roman Cath- 
olics tried in vain to drive us by murdering our 
millions; or it was intended to slur us because 
we will not and cannot endorse other denomina- 
tions as churches of Christ. It is masked ERROR, 
and its business is to destroy what dungeons, 
stakes, fires, imprisonments and deaths in every 
horrid form failed to do, and that after a vigor- 



.64 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

cus war of unrelenting cruelty for more than a 
thousand years. 

Satan manages all these things, transform- 
ing himself into an angel of light, and has never 
yet failed to unite the world against the doctrines 
of Paul. Baptists teach, and have always taught, 
beginning with John the Baptist, that there is 
but one line of faith and practice, and all else are 
of men. It is utter ignorance, nonsense and de- 
praved foolishness to talk about Catholics, Meth- 
odists and Baptists all being churches of Christ — 
to talk of Mormons, Campbellites and- Universal- 
ists being New Testament churches, sisters to the 
church which was at Jerusalem. Two denom- 
inations differing in cardinal doctrines can not 
be one and the same; and if one is a church of 
Christ the other is not. If a Methodist society 
is a church of Christ, the Baptist Church is not, 
for we reject their baby membership, their sprin- 
kling and their "episcopal form of government," 
to say nothing of forty other differences between 
us. It is simply folly in the Methodists to pretend 
to claim us as a church of Christ, seeing we ut- 
terly reject most all they teach; and, in fact, such 
a proposition is not only ridiculous, but savors of 
great inconsistency. 

The doctrine of pardon, the doctrine of bap- 
tism and' the doctrine of church government be- 
ing fundamental doctrines, and these docMnes, 
as taught by the denominations of the day being 
unlike the teaching of Paul on the same subject, 
causes that sect to fall short of being a church of 
Christ. So if sprinkling is not the baptism prac- 



The Evils of Religious Liberalism, 65 

ticed by John the Baptist, Jesus Christ and the 
apostles; and if baby membership is contrary to 
the teachings of the gospel, and if men must be 
truly saved before they are ready for baptism or 
church membership, then those denominations 
who practice these things are not churches of 
Christ. But it is the pompous boast of Liberal- 
ism that all these societies are churches of Christ, 
differ as much as they may from each other or 
from the word of God. 

Liberalists say "sprinkling," " pouring," or 
immersion is baptism. The gospel knows but one 
baptism, and if immersion is gospel baptism then 
nothing else is. Liberalism says a babe may be 
baptized, A seeker may be baptized and a truly 
converted man may be baptized, but the gospel 
knows of but one subject for baptism, and if that 
subject is a converted soul then no one else is. 
So this false friendship, in attempting to show 
charity to men, has endorsed the errors of men. 
Christ had charity for men, but not for errors. 
So of Stephen and of Paul. Their hearts yearned 
with unquenchable love for the souls of men*, but 
they preferred to die rather than show one parti- 
cle of charity to their errors. The gospel is full 
of love to the souls of men, but never yet showed 
the least resemblance of allowance for the errors 
of its subjects. 

It is the greatest blunder of this or any age 
to endorse a Liberalism that espouses errors 
just for the sake of union; for such a union will 
yet end' in riot. It is the greatest move that Satan 
was eve.': allowed to make against the gospel of all 



66 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

grace. No man can serve Christ by fellowship- 
ping a doctrine not of Christ. Charity is for men, 
,but not for the unscriptural doctrines; and the 
Liberalism that feigns fellowship for the diverse 
teachings of the many sects is the most marvel- 
ous monstrosity ever allowed to deal with the 
sons of men. It is meaner than downright Pa- 
ganism, for it attempts to cover up and to shield 
acknowledged errors. Now, in view of all this, 
who cannot admire the conduct of Baptists in 
past ages, enjoying the most sublime charity for 
men, but dying by the millions rather than en- 
dorse known and acknowledged errors. To this 
day they should know no compromise,but denounce 
the errors of Christendom as readily as they 
would the superstitions and idolatries of heathen- 
dom. 

If this vaunting benevolence wishes to show 
us any favor, it has in its power to honor us as it 
never honored any people. Let it concede that 
Baptists have in past ages, and do to this day, 
teach the following great doctrines, which make 
up the weight and substance of the whole Bible. 
They are as follows: 1. The total ruin of men 
in the fall. 2. The soverignity of the Holy Spirit 
in conversion. 3. Salvation alone by faith in 
Christ. 4. Baptism alone for the regenerate. 
5. Baptism ALONE by immersion. 6. Church 
membership alone for the immersed believer. 
7. Church government alone by the whole mem- 
bership. If these Liberalists are fond of show- 
ing us courtesies, let them do what is easy to do 
and hard not to do, and that is, let them be so 



The Evils of Religious Liberalism. G7 

magnanimous as to confess Baptists taught these 
doctrines 1,500 years before the "branches" of 
the church of Christ had formed a bud. Get a 
Liberalist to confess these things, will you ? Many 
of them grow angry at the thought of 'giving us 
such hoary honors, and at once strike out our his- 
tory and take up the Catholic church with whicn 
to run back to the apostles' day. No well in- 
formed Baptist expects anything at the hands of 
this modern church-making and church-trying 
monopoly. Who hates immersion worse than the 
man who demands of us to acknowledge his sprin- 
kling? If Liberalism is truly charitable why will 
it not allow Baptists to enjoy their conscientious 
views on the subject of the Lord's Supper instead 
of persecuting us to death because of the unan- 
swerable defense of our faith and practices? Lib- 
eralism is in many respects the mast illiberal 
thing of this age, and it is high time these facts 
were clearly understood. 

Our enemies filled all Europe with blood be- 
cause they hated our doctrines; and martyrs by 
the million have died because they loved our doc- 
trines more than the applause of men. Oh, read 
our wonderful history to attest the statement just 
made. Hence, for the various churches of the 
times to take the one-half of the Pope's doctrines, 
without giving him credit, and then to run to us 
Baptists to press upon us to endorse them after 
having shed rivers of blood in opposing them, is 
the wiliest scheme ever devised by the bickering 
hates and proselyting jealousy of the nineteenth 
century. 



68 Memovrs of Eld. J. N .Hall. 

Just let the gospel refuse to fall in line and 
shout praises to the seven different faiths on 
which seven different churches are based, and the 
Liberalists of the day are the first to stone him 
who dares to defend such a gospel. 

Again: What honors this blubbering benev- 
olence could do the Pope of Rome if it were their 
business to give, rather than to receive honors 
from others. How consistently they could honor 
"His Holiness" who furnished them more 
than half of all they teach. For be it told over 
and over and announced from time to time that 
"baby membership," "sprinkling and pouring/' 
"baptismal salvation," "partial depravity," fall- 
ing from grace" and an undemocratic church 
government," are all Roman Catholic doctrines. 

Let such as teach these doctrines, if they 
wish to make a flourish of their much-paraded 
Liberalism, call upon His Holiness and say, "Fa- 
ther Pope, we thank thee for all those convenient 
doctrines invented by thy wisdom and kept alive 
for our coming in spite of the heretics who de- 
nounced them and died of holy stubbornness 
rather than submit. Even so, Holy Mother 
church for so it seemed good in thy sight to put 
away a foe common to us both and thus preserve 
the dictrines by which we are so closely allied to 
each other and to you." 

No doubt in my mind Methodists, Presbyter- 
ians, Campbellites and various other denomina- 
tions very much like them, have in their midst 
many truly regenerate men and women, whom 
God has saved IN spite of their printed doctrines : 



The Evils of Religious Liberalism. 69 

but they are as destitute of a gospel communion 
and a divinely appointed church polity, as is the 
Order of Odd Fellows; for if you miss these 
things you miss them clear, since the gospel ac- 
cepts no such thing as a substitute for truth, or 
a substitute for obedience. Millions of men are 
therefore wasting their lives upon the dogmas of 
the Pope, and which being renewed in heart as we 
confess many of them are, their souls will be 
"saved so as by fire," but all such "works" as de- 
fending the Pope's inventions will be burned up 
extracting in its fall every "lie" it has furnished 
the various Protestant denominations of this or 
any other country. It will yet become patent that 
the errors of Christendom came from the "Man 
of Sin," and all truth through millions of mar- 
tyrs who died that it might live. 

In fact, it is difficult to tell how much all 
other denominations are indebted to us for the 
pure and saving doctrine of the gospel. Con- 
verted Membership, Believer's Immersion and 
a Democratic Church Government, would have 
been lost to the world, but for Baptists who held 
these views through past ages, back to the apos- 
tles. The war was between Catholics and Bap- 
tists, and when you find grounds of difference be- 
tween Baptists and' other denominations of this 
land, they are the very doctrines that divided 
Baptists and Roman Catholics long, long before 
other denominations had their existence! And 
anything a Methodist, Presbyterian or Campbell- 
ite can do to harmonize Baptists and Catholics, 
only makes them ridiculous in the eyes of a dis- 



70 Memois of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

criminating world. For instance, a Methodist 
will "sprinkle a babe" out of respect to a Catholic 
doctrine; a Presbyterian will take a "babe into 
his church" according to the practice ox xtoman 
Catholics centuries before his cAurch was set up, 
but he will also receive a converted adult into his 
church according to the practice of the Baptists ; 
a Campbellite will baptize a subject in order to 
save him, according to the usage of Catholics 
many centuries past, and he will also receive into 
his church one whom Baptists immersed because 
he was saved. So if you wish to find Catholic 
and Baptist doctrines mixed in every way con- 
ceivable, just acquaint yourselves with the multi- 
tude of churches that have since Martin Luther's 
day, taken their stand somewhere along the line 
between Roman Catholics and Baptists, and you 
will find anything that prolific invention and 
crazed fancy can foist upon the world. 

Of course the church makers that can take 
Catholic doctrines and Baptist doctrines and mix 
them so as to stick, are the very doctors to in- 
sist on Baptists taking a dose of compromise. But 
strange as it may seem to their generous souls, 
neither Catholics nor true Baptists have ever ac- 
cepted any such treatment. Hence in trying to 
harmonize the "Church of Christ" with the "great 
Apostasy" these persons have unharmonized 
themselves and caused devils to rejoice over the 
folly of the professed friends of the Lord Jesus. 

And yet this is the work of Religious Liber- 
alism, to unite the Catholic world to the Baptist 
world, by putting the Protestant world right be- 



The Evils of Religious Liberalism. 71 

tween the two, and cause truth and error to be 
married to each other, by the love-making festiv- 
ities of meddling compromisers! 

If such propnets and apostles of old had had 
some such a compromise they need not have died. 

"Oh, that the Baptists could be induced," 
says this Committee on Conciliation, "to nullify 
their extreme contrariness by adopting this po- 
tent peace measure" — which loves and hates 
none; which believes everything in general and 
nothing in particular. 

As for me, I would rather see my Baptist 
brethren weltering in martyrs' blood than have 
them' embrace the many conflicting faiths of the 
day and call them by the name of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Learn wisdom, will you, from the depths 
of ages as she cries: "Though we, or an angel 
from heaven, preach any other gospel than that 
ye have received, let him be accursed! 

Having trated this grave and important 
subject in this fundamental way thus far, we 
now turn to some pointed specifications. 

The evils of this monstrous Cleverness are 
many, some of which we will group as follows : 

1. It slightly esteems many of the most im- 
portant doctrines of the Bible. 

2. It gives prominence to many of the most 
fearful errors of the day. 

3. It causes the Lord to withdraw his gra- 
cious presence. 

4. It provokes to wrath as a penalty for 
con" prorri sine- away the truth. 

5. It retards the growth of the soul that 



72 Memoirs of Eld. J N. Hall. 

sells the truth to the applause of men. 

6. It greatly hinders the work of converting 
the nations to God. 

7. It has, no doubt, drowned thousands of 
souls in perdition, that rebukes and faithful 
teaching would have saved. 

8. It removes the grandest opportunities 
afforded in life to cultivate the noblest heroism. 

First, then, Religious Liberalism ignores 
much of the word of God. 

It opposes those who hold to the word of 
God ; for all the "isms" of the day are already at 
war with the pure doctrines of the gospel of all 
grace. Methodism, Presbyterianisxn and Camp- 
bellism can walk together pretty well, for they 
much egree in rejecting many Bible doctrines. 
When a Baptist becomes iove-sick foi* these 
"branches'.' of Christ that slight the doctrines ot 
Christ, that Baptist learns to attach very little im- 
portance to these all-important principles. Religi- 
ous Liberalism, in fact, hurts ether denominations 
but little, but it kills a Baptist outright, and 
wherever practiced a few years, removes Baptist 
churches and surrenders the field occupied by 
them into the hands of this precious Liberalism 
that so effectually destroys them. All this fearful 
mischief began when the Baptist sought to please 
his Pedobaptist neighbors by refusing to contend 
for what he honestly believed to be true. 

So liberalism does not mean that truth must 
be so liberal as to accept error, and Satan well 
knew this when he held thousands from the Ro- 
man church and set them half way between Cath- 



The Evils of Religious Liberalism. 73 

olics and Baptists, through them intending to 
stop the former fightings and get up a grand 
feast of HUSH meats, thereby giving tne victory 
to the "gates of hell" after they had stormed the 
city of truth from the year after Christ up to the 
rise of the racket of Martin Luther. 

Secondly. When one becomes a Liberalist 
he is forced from that day forward to endorse 
many of the errors of the accommodating times, 
in which the polish and finish of all etiquette con- 
sists in gracefully yielding every man's conscience 
to the exercise of that sublime liberty that chooses 
the church of one's fancy. Yea, Liberalism en- 
dorses seven errors in one truth. It has almost 
ceased to be a question of charity for men, and 
is mainly a matter of charity for the doctrines of 
men. 

This makes it the incurable leprosy of North 
American Religiousness. It makes a grand sum- 
ming up of many fine doctrines to entitle a body 
to that highest of all appellations, "A church of 
Christ." But Liberalism stands by and sees two 
denominations destroy well nigh all there is to 
each other's doctrines, and yet compliments them 
both as being New Testament churches. Oh, how" 
Christ is lied on in this world where truth has to 
t>e learned from Liberalism. 

That species of Religious Liberalism that in- 
duces a Baptist to join a Methodist or Campbell- 
ite church because there was no Baptist church in 
that community, makes that man endorse it as 
a true church of the Lord Jesus. Verily, it doth 
not yet appear how much ignorance it takes to kill 



74 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

a man. A church of Christ is a body of immersed 
believers, preaching the same to others, each con- 
gregation finding in itself the highest judicial and 
executive authority on earth, administering from 
time to time the Lord's Supper to its own mem- 
bers, exhorting them to the spread of the gospel 
to the end of the earth. So all those Baptists who 
are led astray by a silly affection for that sort of 
Liberalism called Open Communion, in that very 
act endorse the denomination they thus commune 
with, and could just as well join it as to commune 
with it; for where one can "commune" they can 
always join and be perfectly at home with that 
body as a church of Christ, as none but the 
church of Christ can set the Supper. 

So all of those good, easy, ignorant Baptists 
in our midst, who talk so lovingly about the "sis- 
ter denominations" can just as well join them as 
to make this splendid speech for them; for one 
sister always was just as much a child of the pa- 
rent as another. We often find converted men 
where we do not find a "church of God," and we 
have Christian fellowship for all who show they 
love Jesus, be they among Catholics, Mormons or 
Methodists ; and yet we have for them no church 
fellowship whatever, because they are so wholly 
unlike ourselves in doctrines and ordinances. Out 
of hundreds of denominations on earth, the gospel 
only finds one it calls "the body of Christ." 

But Liberalism finds divers different organi- 
zations and calls them all the faith of Paul and 
the truth of God. It calls them by the flaming 
name of "Evangelical Alliance," and woe to the 



' The Evils of Religious Liberalism. 75 

Baptist who is silly enough to be tied hand and 
foot by the Evangelical Alliance. Liberalism 
speaks of all the "preachers" of the time, as "min- 
isters of the gospel," when many of them preach 
two gospels for the Pope to where they do one for 
Christ. It speaks of the branches of the church 
of God, a thing wholly unknown to the Bible. It 
claims it is infinitely better to belong to any of 
these thousand and one churches than to be out in 
the world, just as though a man was not still out 
in the world when he is simply in a man-made 
society. To illustrate, we cheerfully grant, if the 
Episcopalian church is a church of the New Tes- 
tament, then the Baptist church is not, and to 
join a Baptist church would leave the one who 
joined out in the world. All this sort of clever 
looseness is used by the Devil to impress the 
young as they come on, that it does not require 
any specific teachings to be the gospel, nor any- 
thing in particular to be a gospel church; and 
that the gospel in one country is not the gospel 
in another ; or the church of God in one age is not 
the same as the church of God in another age. 
So by this sanctified (?) looseness Liberalism 
teaches a vast amount of religious (?) foolish- 
ness, until with all our seeming religious prosper- 
ity, there is in fact but little gospel preached to- 
day that the Apostle Paul would receive as the 
doctrine of Christ. 

Thirdly. But a third evil of "Religious Lib- 
eralism" is in this, that it causes the Lord to with- 
draw his gracious presence from those that prac- 
tice such wanton deception. .God keeps company 



76 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

ivith his truth, and just to the extent one forsakes 
that truth, to that extent he is without the 
Lord's Company. "Lo, I am with you. ;/ — When? 
Answer, when we "teach them all things Christ 
commanded. " The use of God's word secures 
God's presence, but the use of human traditions 
drives him away. God is never present when the 
teachings of the occasion are at war with his re- 
vealed word. Furthermore, God is also present 
when his ordinances are properly administered. 
Thousands have even felt his presence when a 
true believer has been immersed, being "buried 
with Christ in baptism;" but he was never yet 
present when a babe was to be "sprinkled," or 
a "sinner baptized to save him." So it is a Bible 
doctrine — just to the extent one forsakes the 
truth of God, just to that extent he withdraws 
his gracious presence from him. To the Bible 
reader, the history of the Jews for 1,500 years is 
full of overwhelming proof to this effect. 

Fourthly. Nothing is so sure to provoke the 
wrath of God as the introduction of an evil doc- 
trine. God regards his word as he regards him- 
self, and he regards the "doctrines of devils" as 
he regards the devils themselves. It was the false 
doctrines of the Jews that slew them, for God 
never yet destroyed a people without first looking 
very closely to their doctrines. Lying, stealing or 
murder are no more offensive to the Lord than 
an evil doctrine ; for the "traditions of men make 
void the law of God," whilst murder or adultery 
cannot do more. To hold an error since we have 
the Bible, is a high crime against God, and di- 



The Evils of Religious Liberalism. 77 

9 

vided Christendom, as it is today, holds to enough 
trror to sink a world to hell. 

The great Head of the church sorely threat- 
ened "the church in Pergamos" because they 
"held to the doctrines of Balaam," also the "doc- 
trines of the Nicolaitans." "Doctrines of devils" 
are as the devils themselves. When a Baptist 
becomes so kind to all the religious sects of the 
age as to let their doctrines sit on one knee of 
his great benevolent lap, let him look out for a 
. thunderbolt from God ; for an evil doctrine is an 
idol; and he who wreaths his brow with light- 
rings, and throws his thunders from world to 
world, will yet shake all "isms" loose and cause 
them to go howling down to the abyss from 
whence they came. 

The most extravagant sin of the age is to 
give up the doctrines of the gospel. It took 
Christ day and night three years and six months 
to deliver his truth, whilst it required only six 
hours upon the cross to suffer for sin. "Grace 
and truth came by Jesus Christ" — "hear ye him," 
had in it a world of meaning, till for not hearing 
him, God destroyed a whole nation of Jews. 
Christ talked h'.mself to death. It was not what 
he did, but what he said that killed him. And 
yet the loose charity of this age, in thousands of 
cases, will sell Christ's sayings to buy the ap- 
plause of men. The lowest and least saint in 
glory, will be that man who pushed aside the 
doctrine of Christ and took in its stead a com- 
mand of man. There is not a Bible truth to be 
found but what is bitterly denied by one or more 



78 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

of the so-called churches of this church-making 
age, and yet Liberalism has a hand of strong 
fellowship for it all. Christ "came to send a 
tword" and to "kindle a fire;" but the ideal of 
this age seems to be to break the sword and put 
cut the fire. 

I feel sorry for that community where four 
different denominations are all in perfect peace 
and loving quietude, for it is besotted with error, 
and if one of the denominations- is the "church 
of God" it shows clearly they are not preaching 
the gospel they hold, for the truth never will fail 
to arouse opposition. In that town the church of 
God is sure to be the first one of the four that 
will die ! for compromised truth of all things 
brings death most speedily. 

If error Jidds her peace, nothing is lost; but 
if truth holds her peace, all is lost; and what 
truth lost, error gained without one struggle. I 
was once "interviewed" as to becoming pastor 
of a certain church, and this question was pro- 
pounded to me by several of the leading ones in 
the church: "How do you get along with 

OTHER DENOMINATIONS?" 

I did then and shall ever look upon it as the 
strangest question ever propounded by mortal 
man ; for to endorse their errors would be to com- 
mit treason against God; and to preach my senti- 
ments would be direct antagonism to theirs. 
"Except two be agreed they cannot walk to- 
gether" — and everybody knows it. If I hold an 
error and a Methodist brother holds the truth 
on that subject, his truth is destined to destroy 



The Evils of Religious Liberalism. 79 

my error, and the sooner the better. If sprink- 
ling his cnild saves it, then my babe that died, 
went to hell. The Methodists feeling so on this 
subject are guilty before God, if they hold their 
peace, for holding their peace will let souls be 
lost that might be saved. If immersing a man in 
order to his salvation is the gospel, then I say 
the Campbellites cannot hold their peace a day 
nor an hour, for if immersion be essential to sal- 
vation, as they verily teach, then thousands of 
Pedobaptists will certainly be lost. So to with- 
hold the truth is not only a high crime against 
God, but the highest crime that can be commit- 
ted against our fellow man. And for this reason, 
we believe the wrath of God will certainly be vis- 
ited against the schemes of this age to make 
unhallowed peace with divers conflicting faiths. 
O, my God, make me a "good and faithful minis- 
ter of Jesus Christ;" help me "earnestly to con- 
tend for the faith," so in a dying day I may utter 
that finest of all human sayings, "I have fought 
a good fight, I have kept the faith," for only such 
look forward to a "crown of eternal rejoicing." 
Let the people ever "try those who say they are 
Jews and are not, but do lie," by blowing hard the 
gospel fan against the huge chaff piles of sects 
and isms, till the "floor is thoroughly cleansed." 
Fifthly. Religious Liberalism stunts the 
growth of the child of God, and hushes up the 
truth to secure the praise of men. The more 
the Apostles preached the doctrine of the resur- 
rection, so offensive to the Jews, the more the 
churches of Christ everywhere grew and pros- 



80 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

pered. But when Judaizing Teachers, the Com- 
promisers of that age, followed the Apostles with 
their Liberalism, the self same churches dwin- 
dled. It is so everywhere, and always, for doc- 
trines make the food of God's people and always 
of very necessity, go before practice. This is the 
milk for the babe and the meat for the strong 
man, whereby they both grow. The church in 
Jerusalem "continued in the Apostles' doctrine" 
and as a result the Lord added to it daily the 
saved. The soul is always lean just in proportion 
as it rejected the doctrines of the gospel. 

I never yet knew a man that was afraid to 
speak the whole gospel to become a pillar in the 
church of God. And when and wherever you 
find a half-starved soul in Baptist ranks, call for 
the facts in the case and it will be revealed that 
that man is in sympathy with all other denomi- 
nations around him ; for a Baptist always hushes 
down on doctrines just to the extent he falls love- 
sick with other denominations. Be it known and 
be it stated in this connection, the world is today 
indebted to our faithfulness for a "converted 
church;" for Catholicism brings all into the 
church, whilst babes, and they, of course, grow 
up in sin, till the world in this way is crowded 
right into the church without beins: regenerated. 
Being in the church and believing it is the 
CHURCH THAT saves them, of course a chanere of 
heart is never once thought of or mentioned by 
the Catholics after the babe is, by baptism, 
brought into the "Catholic" church — which in tho 
Bible is called the "Mother of Harlots," and many 



A Landmark Our Fathers Set. SL 

other hard and dreadful names. 

So infant baptism is the PILLAR of Popery. 
It is also the master LIE of earth. Now if Meth- 
odists and Presbyterians, with others who hoict 
to "baby membership" and "infant sprinkling," 
will just hold to it, it will soon put them right 
where it put and kept the Catholics for more than 
j? thousand years past. If they believed sprink- 
ling the babe into the church saved it, then it will 
never need to be saved by repentance and faith 
in Christ. So if all the Pedobaptists of this 
country will just stick to "baby membership" 
they will soon have no other sort, and their chil- 
dren will grow up with no other religion but what 
they received by being "sprinkled" or "poured" 
into the church. So that leaves the Baptists 
through all the ages past, and in the age present, 
to stand all ALONE in contending for a CON- 
VERTED church — a church whose members were 
regenerated in answer to prayer and faith. 
Doubtless, many Pedobaptists are truly con- 
verted men and women, but they had to "go back 
on their infant baptism" before they got it. 
When they grow up and learn that "being 
sprinkled when babes and brought into the 
church thereby" still leave them to repent and be 
saved after they come to years Qf accountability, 
they then endorse Baptist teaching. So they 
were saved when babes according to Catholic 
doctrines of "infant membership" and saved 
again when adults, according to the faith and 
practice of Baptists in all ages. The truth is, 
Baptists are right, all others being judges; for 



32 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

sooner or later, one way or another, Baptist doc- 
trines are received as gospel doctrines by the 
various i^rocestant denominations of the land. 
All others endorse us, but we cannot endorse 

any — THEREFORE WE ARE SELFISH ( ?) . Now 

rignt here is the trouble; they endorse us not as 
a matter of politeness or charity but because we 
have the truth and for that reason they ought to 
endorse us. 

But we cannot espouse them because differ- 
ing from us we can not regard them as holding 
tne truth on any point in which we teach differ- 
ent sentiments. It was not charity for us but 
truth we hold, that made them endorse us, 
whilst it is not a lack of charity on our part, but 
the preaching of error on their part that prevents 
us from espousing them. 

And yet many Baptists, timid because they 
are ignorant, finding good Pedobaptists fellow- 
shipping Baptist views, at once try to fellowship 
them on the grounds of cleverness and general 
neighborship among denominations. And in so 
doing arrest th^ progress of truth in their neigh- 
borhood and the growth of their own souls, in 
''grace and in knowledge." It was this that 
arrested the growth of Paul's Hebrew brethren, 
for they got to mixing the gospel and Judaism. 
It was showing fellowship to the surrounding 
nations that caused the Jews to decline, till they 
became so weak they readily fell a prey to those 
whose favor they courted. 

The gospel compromises with nothing, but 
demands everything to surrender to it. It feU 



A Landmark Our Fathers Set. 83 

lowships no one of the million religions on the 
globe today, but demands of them all an uncon- 
ditional surrender in honor to the claims of the 
one model church Christ established on the earth 
more than 1800 years ago. 0, my Baptist breth- 
len, betake you to the doctrine, to the doctrine, 
yea to the doctrines, for that soul -will perish 
who will not feed on the doctrines of the New 
Testament. 

We bless God that the teachings of the Bap- 
tists are adopted by many whose "creeds" are to 
the contrary, until but few people in this country 
can be found who boldly and squarely deny, Bap- 
tists teach a saving gospel. Baptists are 
right, others being our judges. 

The chief complaint is not so much against 
what we teach as it is what we do NOT teach. 
We teach a converted man is a fit subject for 
baptism and no man on earth denies it; but we 
do NOT teach "infants" or "seekers" are fit sub- 
jects for baptism and the Liberalists lose all 
patience with us because we don't. We do teach 
immersion is gospel baptism and there is not a 
man who is sincere and well informed that will 
deny it; but we do NOT teach "sprinkling" or 
"pouring" for gospel baptism and it is this "not" 
that provokes the cruel hostilities of these sweet 
spirited Liberalists. We do teach that immersed 
believers formed into a church under democratic 
government, are allowed the privileges of the 
Lord's Supper and no man in the College of mod- 
ern Charity will dare deny it; but we do NOT 
teach an unconverted or unbaptized person can 



84 Memoirs of Eld J. N. Hall 

eat thereof, and it is this unpardonable NOT that 
makes the Liberalists persecute us with every 
unpleasant name and epithet that the English, 
language, thus far, has been able to supply. 

Now the heathen nations stand by and listen 
to all these furious contradictions of Christen- 
dom, and' witness the spirit of religious wrang- 
lings that rises to a furious pitch at certain times, 
till many of them turn away and stagger into hell 
at the sight of scenes now going on in far famed 
Christendom. No marvel that 1800 years has 
barely torched the midnight darkness of heathen- 
dom with a light here and there, for where ONE 
rises up to preach the gospel, many rise up to un- 
preach it, and thus leave the world of idolators 
that surrounds Christendom to judge our gospel 
to be, of all things most self-contradictory and 

4 

self-destroying. 

Seventhly. But we come now to announce as 
another evil of Liberalism; it creates the most 
wanton unfaithfulness. It sees men believing 
what it, in many cases, knows will let them go to 
ruin and yet having avowed liberal sentiments 
and adopted a "set of let-alone habits" it proposes 
to befriend the man by letting him be lost for- 
ever, rather than be so unkind as to correct his 
error. 

For instance, a Liberalist has a splendid set 
of oportunities to show his "Universal'.st" brother 
that it is one of Satan's greediest lies to believe 
all will be saved; but restrained by this fine char- 
ity that rebukes no doctrine and is too polite to 
wake a man up and tell him his house is on fire^ 



A Landmark Our Fathers Set. 85 

he just lets a soul sink down to eternal ruin be- 
cause he is married to the charity of unfaithful- 
ness. thou meanest of friendship, go thy way 
and leave me to the faithful mercies of a man who 
will wake me up at midnight to rebuke my sin and 
keep me from rest till he has redeemed my soul 
from the pit. That Pedobaptist that will stand by 
and see a sinner go down into the water to find 
salvation in the act of baptism, fully believing in 
his heart that soul is deceived, and will certainly 
be lost, is a murderer whose guilt cannot be meas- 
ured; for hand in hand he enters the ring of 
Christian Liberalism and engages a solemn hush 
as to each other's prospects for glory, whilst they 
combine to slay the man who dares say sprinkling 
a babe to save it or immersing an adult to save 
him will certainly let them both go to hell if not 
delivered from the awful lies. 

As a Baptist, I have had more opposition 
from Religious Liberalism than from any other 
one source, or all others combined. 

We believe a man is saved by grace 
through faith and that independent of any act, 
deed, or works. Hence we can but tell the 
sprinkled sinner, the immersed sinner, the sinner 
in the church, the sinner at the Lord's Table, the 
sinner keeping the ten commandments, the sinner 
keeping the law of Moses, or the sinner keeping 
the seven commandments of the Pope, that they 
are all sure to be lost if they do not quit insulting- 
God by their good works and trust alone in Jesus 
for salvation. Baptists can do nothing else, for 
they are the only people on this globe who have a 



86 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Halt. 

sinner refrain from all his works till regenera- 
ted by the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ; 
his baptism, church joining, taking of the euchar- 
ist, and every good work, the Bible enjoins upon 
men, being made to FOLLOW his change of heart 
and in no case to go before it in order "to HELP 
God to save." 

In fact there are two doctrines on the earth 
as to saving men — one is by WORKS and the other 
by grace. The Catholics taught the first and the 
Baptists the last named doctrine for more than 
a thousand years before Liberalism had learned 
to mix the two and by mixing them forty ways 
make forty new sorts of churches all differing 
and yet all right. 

Eighth. But now to the last thought. The 
disposition of the times to seek popularity and to 
cheerfully allow all sorts of faiths and practices, 
is fast destroying the noble courage of a by-gone 
and better day. Opposition makes men, whereas 
a cowering surrender to what we believe to ne 
wrong, sinks our manhood and makes us mere 
things in society. The grandeur of the Prophets 
and Apostles as, at times, they stood all alone 
battling for truth, is just simply beyond descrip- 
tion. 

Thousands today love this abominable Lib- 
eralism, just because they cherish the thought in 
their hearts, that it relieves them from fearful 
contentions for the truth. To love a lie may be 
easier than dying for a truth, but it is not half so 
grand. The grandest man on earth today is that 
man who cultivates every religious conviction; 



A Landmark Our Fathers Set. 87 

goes through life fearlessly speaking the truth of 
God because he loves it more than dear life itself. 
Amen and Amen. 



CHAPTER VI. 

A LANDMARK OUR FATHERS SET. 

j. r. graves. 

"Remove not the Ancient Landmarks 
which thy Fathers have set/' — Prov. 22:28. 

Some Baptists may be ready to oppose the po- 
sition taken by Brother Pendleton in this tract, 
supposing it to be some new practice sought to 
be introduced. It is an OLD practice sought to be 
revived. It is an old landmark, which a modern 
and false charity and an unscriptural liberality 
have well nigh removed, that is sought to be re- 
placed. It is a coming up of the consistent Scrip- 
tural ground, which our brethren, the martyrs, 
from the first ages, boldly and fearlessly stood 
upon and consecrated with their blood. It was 
the ground occupied by the first Baptists of Amer- 
ica, and it is ground that we, as Baptists, must 
occupy at all sacrifice, or betray our cause and the 
ultimate triumph of our principles and our influ- 
ence. 

Yielding to the sophistry and specious charity 



A Landmark Our Fathers Set. 89 

of Open Communion, Baptists of Great Britain 
have well nign lost tneir visible existence, and tnis 
new form of "open communion" — tnis pulpit com- 
munion — tins demand upon us on tne part ox 
feaooapcisiis, to recognize pneir societies Ociore 
tne worid as gospel cnurcnes and tneir ministers 
as legitimate gospel ministers, oy inviting tnem 
tnus into our puipits, and addressing tnem tnus 
in our convention and through tne press, clearly 
involves the surrender of our distinctive princi- 
ples. Our ancestors would not yield to this un- 
just and absurd demand, and accordingly drew 
down upon their devoted heads the cruel hatred 
and fierce wrath of Pagans, Papists and Protest- 
ants. . 

We say it has been the constant practice of 
Baptist churches to hold no fellowship with cor- 
rupt and irregular "churches," from the day the 
first irregular and corrupt "churches" were or- 
ganized. The practice of re-baptism commenced 
as early as 251, one century before sprinkling 
(save in cases of sickness) or infant baptism had 
a recognized existence, and therefore the practice 
could not have originated, as some have affirmed, 
because Baptists could not recognize infant bap- 
tism or sprinkling. It was for the same reason 
that we now urge for baptizing all, who have 
received the rite in any form from Pedobaptists 
and Campbellites — i. e. because such irregular 
and corrupt bodies are not churches of Christ. 

We quote first, from a Historical Essay, by 
J. N. Brown, (Editorial Secretary of the Ameri- 
can Baptist Publication Society, Philadelphia , 



90 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

prefixed to the Memorial of Baptist Martyrs. He 
says : "Pedobaptism had 'no recognized existence, 
even in the so-called Catholic Church, until after 
the Council at Nice, (nor indeed until the time 01 
Gregory Nazianzen, A. D. 363) so we have no 
proof whatever that it ever existed in the pure 
churches, or Cathari, who separated from the 
Catholics in the preceding century, in the time of 
Novatian, A. D. 251. This large body of Dissent- 
ers from the Catholic communion were called 
Nova'tians by their adversaries; but as the his- 
torian Socrates testifies, they called themselves in 
Greek, Cathari (in Latin Puritani), signifying 
the pure; and the .name was designed by them 
to announce the fundamental principle of their 
separation, which was the preservation of a pure 
church membership, communion and discipline. 
They held that the Catholics had so departed from 
the original constitution of he church, in ihis 
respect, as to have forfeited' their claim to that 
honor; and hence invariably baptized all who 
joined them from the Catholic churches. Hence r 
they are the first in history who are called Ana- 
baptists, that is, re-baptizers; although of 
course,, they denied the propriety of the appella- 
tion, as they believed the baptism administered 
by a corrupt church to be null and void." 

So we say today, and therefore should no 
more invite the ministers of corrupt "churches" 
— human societies — into our pulpits to preach for 
us than we would papistical ministers. 

"The Donatists baptize all persons coming 
from other professing (Christian) communities/' 



A Landmark Our Fathers Set. 91 

This conduct Augustine (Catholic) disapproved, 
and observes: 

"You (Donatists) say they are baptized in 
an impure church, by heretics." Orchard's His., 
p. 95, which see throughout for the practice of 
Baptists. 

These authorities indicate the faith and prac- 
tice of the Baptists for the first ten centuries. 

In the year 1120, we find a "Treatise Con- 
cerning Anti-Christ," etc., among the writings of 
the Waldenses. 

In defining Anti-Christ, they say: 

"It is not any particular person ordained to 
any degree, or office, or ministry, but a system of 
falsehood (as a false 'church' or ecclesiastical 
system, etc.), opposing itself to the truth, cover- 
ing itself with a show of beauty and piety, yet 
very unsuitable to the church of Christ, as by 
names and offices, the Scriptures, and the Sacra- 
ments, and various other things may appear. The 
system of iniquity thus completed with its minis- 
ters, GEE AT and small (as we find in the Romish, 
Episcopal and Methodist societies), supported by 
those who are induced to follow it with an evil 
heart and blind-fold — this is the congregation 
which, taken together, composes what is called 
'Anti-Christ or Babylon, etc.' " 

One of the marks of an anti-Christian system 
or anti-Christ, these Waldensian Baptists declare 
to be — 

"He teaches to baptize children into the faith, 
s.nd attributes to this (baptism) the work of re- 
generation, thus confounding the work of the Holy 



92 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

Spirit in regeneration, witn tne external rite o± 

baptism." 

Do not all the Pedobaptist sects do this, as 
well as the mother church, of which they are 
branches, or her daugnters? 

The Romish church says that "baptism is 

NECESSARY TO SALVATION." 

The Greek or Eastern church, • which finally 
separated from the Roman or Western church 
about 1054, maintained that whoever is baptized 

by "IMMERSION IS REGENERATED, CLEANSED AND 
JUSTIFIED." 

The Swiss church says, that by baptism we 
are "received into the covenant and family, 
and so into the inheritance of the sons of 
God." 

The Bohemian church says, that in baptism 

the Lord "WASHETH AWAY SIN, BEGETTETH A MAN 
AGAIN, AND BESTOWETH SALVATION." 

The confession of Augsburg says, "baptism is 
necessary for salvation." 

The confession of Saxony says, "BY this dip- 
ping THE SINS BE WASHED AWAY." 

The Episcopal church of England says, by 
baptism we are "made members of Christ and 

CHILDREN OF GOD." 

The Westminster Assembly say in their con- 
fession, baptism "is a seal of grace, of -mjr en- 
grafting into Christ — of regeneration, adop- 
tion, AND LIFE ETERNAL." 

The confession of Helvetia says that by bap- 
tism the Lord "doth regenerate us and cleanse 

US FROM OUR SINS." 



A Landmark Our Fathers Set. 93 

The Confession of France says, that by bap- 
tism "WE ARE ENGRAFTED INTO CHRIST'S BJDY." 

The Methodist church, through Mr. Wesley, 

Says, "BY BAPTISM WE WHO ARE BY NATURE THE 

children of wrath, are made the children of 
God/' 

The Campbellites teach that regeneration 
and immersion are synonymous terms, and that 
actual remission of sins is conferred in the act, is 
but too notorious. 

Now how did these Baptists think it became 
them to treat every such anti-Christian sect? 
Hear them: 

"And since it hath pleased God to make 
known these things to us by his servants, believ- 
ing it to be his revealed will according to the Holy 
Scriptures, and admonished thereto by the com- 
mand of the Lord, we do, both inwardly and out- 
wardly, depart from anti-Christ." 

Had these Baptists affiliated with Papists, by 
calling them "brethren," and recognizing their 
priests as Christian ministers, by inviting them 
into their pulpits, or "stands," to preach for them, 
would they have appeared to the world to have 
"outwardly" departed from them as the minis- 
ters of an anti-Christian Society? 

What the descendants of these Waldenses 
consider as "outwardly" departing from anti- 
Christ, we learn even after Luther, and Calvin, 
and Henry VIII had set up their divisions, or 
kingdoms, the leaders and rulers of which demand 
that we consider and recognize them as churches 
of Christ. 



94 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

Bullinger, a distinguished Protestant his- 
torian, in the year 1540, tells us what Baptists 
considered as outwardly departing from anti- 
Christ. He says : 

"The Anabaptists think themselves to be THE 
only true church of Christ, and acceptable to 
God ; and teach that they who by baptism are re- 
ceived into their churches ought not to have 
any communion (fellowship) with (those called) 
evangelical, or any other whatsoever for that 
OUR (i. e. evangelical, protestant or reformed) 
churches are not true churches any more 
than the churches of the Papists." 

I most conscientiously believe with my breth- 
ren of the sixteenth century that Pedobaptist and 
Campbellite Societies are no more entitled to be 
considered or recognized as gospel churches, or 
churches of Christ, than the "church" of Rome; 
the Episcopal hierarchy of England, or the Meth- 
odist hierarchy of America, than the Romish 
hierarchy of America — names, or the piety of 
individual members neither change principles. 

The above historical facts are sufficient to 
show the faith of Baptists on the Continent of Eu- 
rope from A. D. 300 to the 16th century. 

The faith of the Baptists in England in 1615 
is clearly set forth in the following extract which 
I copy from the Georgia Index of 1843. The cor- 
respondent signs himself "J. L. R.," which are the 
initials of one of the ripest scholars in the South : 

"The conclusion is irresistable, that they did 
not consider even immersion valid when it was the 
act of an unimmersed' administrator. The prin- 



A Landmark Our Fathers Set. 95 

ciple of action doubtless was, that there could be 
no valid baptism, unless the administrator was 
authorized to baptize by a properly constituted 
church. Hence, in vindication of the Baptists of 
London, published in 1615, the ground is taken, 
that 'all baptism received either in the church of 
Rome, or England, is invalid ; because received in 
a false church and from anti-Christian min- 
isters.' Crosby, Vol. 1, p. 273. They refused to 
sanction the acts of any administrator, who de- 
rived his authority from churches which per- 
verted the ordinance of baptisirj. This is firm 
Baptist ground and the position is impregnable." 

If English or Protestant Episcopal ministers 
are anti-Christian ministers, are not Methodist 
Episcopal and all Pedobaptist ministers equally 
so — being alike members and ministers of false 
churches? And ought Baptists to affiliate with, 
or recognize such by act, as official and gospel 
ministers? Ought they not to separate from 
such outwardly, ministerially, and by all 
external acts? It is a very plain question to my 
mind. 

The practice of the early Baptists in New 
England and Virginia has been referred to by 
the author of this tract. I will only add two 
extracts from the history of Pennsylvania and 
Virginia Baptists. The Philadelphia Association 
in 1746 decided' that to receive into Associations 
those with whom we cannot commune, is incon- 
sistent and not to be winked at, because it opens 
the door to greater and more dangerous concep- 
tions, and is itself subversive of the being and 



96 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

end of an association. Is not the reason of Bap- 
tists, which was valid in 1746, valid today? 
Why, then, should we invite Pedobaptist and 
Campbellite ministers to seats and participation 
in our Associations? 

Semple, in his account of the New River 
Association, Virginia, says: "Between these 
(Methodists and Presbyterians) and the Baptists 
a good understanding subsisted; insomuch that 
a considerable party (which has yearly in- 
creased) were of opinion in the Association, that 
they ought to invite the Presbyterian and 
Methodist ministers to sit with them in 
their Association as counsellors; but not to 
vote. This subject underwent lengthy investi- 
gation, and finally was decided against invit- 
ing." 

Elder Semper, a veteran Baptist, justly re- 
marks: 

This was assuredly a very prudent determin- 
ation ; first, because it might trend to confusion, 
and secondly, because it would probably rather 
interrupt than promote friendship. Seeing, in 
most cases, as it respects the intercourse between 
man and man too much familiarity often ends in 
strife. We should be more likely to continue in 
peace with a neighbor, whom we treated with dis- 
tant respect due a neighbor, than if we were to 
introduce him to our domestic concerns. * * * 
Steadfastness in our principles, and charity to- 
wards those of others, are not inconsistent with 
each other. 

It can be seen from the above that this pul- 



A Landmark Our Fathers Set, 97 

pit and associational affiliation and communion 
with Pedobaptists is a late thing, and if contin- 
ued in will prove a Pandora's box to our denom- 
ination. 

I endorse the opinion of Elder J. S. Baker, 
than whom no man in our ranks is worthier of 
respect : 

"We have lost more than we have gain- 
ed BY ASSOCIATION AND CO-OPERATION WITH PEDO- 
BAPTISTS." 

These facts submitted are sufficient to show 
the footsteps of our forefathers, when their his- 
tory could be traced by blood, and persecution — 
when their names were cast out for nought. 

Let our churches of this age decide who are 
seeking to introduce new practices, who are at- 
tempting to break down the old landmarks and 
lead them away from the old paths, those who 
would introduce this new phase of open commun- 
ion — this recognizing human societies as gospel 
churches, by inviting their ministers into our 
pulpits, and receiving their baptisms as valid, 
and calling them our brethren in writing and in 
conversation; or those who in the face of bitter 
scorn and the fires of the inquisition of public 
opinion, hold forth the old, time-worn, fire-scath- 
ed banner, glowing with the inscription of the 
martyrs ! 

Editor Tennessee Baptist, Nashville, Tenm 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE NEW ISSUE. 
The Invisible Church Idea. 

BY J. N. HALL. 

The foregoing pages of this book have no 
doubt impressed the reader as being expressive 
of very hard Baptist doctrine. But in my judg- 
ment the positions taken by Brothers Pendleton, 
Graves and Taylor, are Scriptural, logical and 
charitable. Consistency and truth are closely al- 
lied; and when either is made to suffer by com- 
promises, or in the interests of a maudlin senti- 
ment, it is ruinous to the real good of Christ's 
cause, and to the best standing of his truth. 

These brethren have been contending against 
a fraternizing fellowship between preachers, in 
exchanging pulpits; and also a liberalizing ten- 
dency that counts all churches on a par. Every 
careful and impartial reader will no doubt agree 
with Dr. Pendleton that Baptists cannot consist- 
ently co-operate with other denominations in their 
church work without a surrender of their own 
distinctive faith. Every careful reader will also 
agree with Brother Taylor that the snirit of 
modern liberalism would be the snirit of death 
to Baptists. For my part I see no consistently 



The New Issue. 99 

logical course other than to "Mark them which 
cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doc- 
trines which ye have learned, and avoid them." 
Rom. 16:17. Inspiration speaks expressly to this 
effect : "If there come any unto you, and bring 
not this doctrine, (Christ's doctrine) receive him 
not into your house, neither bid him God-speed; 
for he that biddeth him God-speed is partaker of 
his evil deeds." II John, 10-11. In these Scrip- 
tures a distinct line is drawn between truth and 
error, between false and true teachers, and an 
emphatic prohibition against all affiliation is 
plainly expressed. 

Baptists may be wrong in the distinctive doc- 
trines they hold, but they cannot be wrong in 
standing consistently to them while they believe 
them to be truth. If they are wrong, they should 
be abandoned; but until discovered to be wrong 
they should be unflinchingly maintained. At the 
present time it seems to be conceded by every- 
body that in the main,, the doctrines of the Bap- 
tists are Scriptural, and the world is willing to 
grant us reasonable toleration if we will be lib- 
eral and allow a mutual fraternity in church and 
pulpit with all others. But we cannot do this, 
without a contradiction of our own essential and 
fundamental doctrines, and, hence, cannot do it 
at all. 

"Our fathers were bitterly opposed in the 
consistent stand they took for strict Baptist 
practices, by those who believed in what was 
known as the "church-branch theory." It was 
contended that the "real church" was the "uni- 



100 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

versal church," composed of "all the saved," and 
that all visible churches were mere human con- 
veniences, and that, all taken together, the 
Christians amongst them made the "true 
church," while the denominations were "branches 
of the church," and all on a par. On this plea it 
was argued that pulpit affiliation, union meetings, 
alien immersions, open communion, open bap- 
tism, open ordinations, and all else, should be 
regarded as perfectly proper. It was a hard fight 
cur fathers had, to meet this seemingly large, 
brotherly, liberal spirit, and refuse to concede 
that all the different denominational churches 
were merely "branches of the one true church." 
But they fought the battle, and gained the vic- 
tory, until now it is a rare thing we hear any one 
speak of he "branches of the church." 

But we have fallen on a more deceptive and 
plausible religious strategy, if possible. The 
enemy, though defeated, has not been destroyed. 
Baptists have always had to contend for the faith, 
and this contention will not end until the Lord 
shall destroy the last enemy with the brightness 
cf his coming. Nor is this contention confined to 
Pedobaptists and anti-Baptists. In our own 
ranks false teachers have arisen who are pervert- 
ing the faith, and leading away some disciples 
after them. They join hands with the enemy on 
the outside, and seek to aid in breaking down the 
walls of the Baptist citadel, while they pose as 
the best of Baptists. The specious 'theory we 
now confront is close akin to the "branch-church 
theory," and is an outgrowth from that theory. 



The New Issue. 101 

It runs as follows: The conversion of a sinner 
introduces him into the spiritual, invisible, uni- 
versal church of Christ. This invisible church 
is the only church that has a succession through 
pnst ages. All visible churches are necessarily 
human, and subject to the changing conditions of 
their environments, and are therefore sister 
churches, a:id should, affiliate with each other on 
terms of perfect equality. This invisible church 
embraces all Christian people, of all classes and 
names. 

Now, the reader can see how easy it is for 
one who believes such a theory to also believe that 
Baptists are chargeable with bigotry when we 
refuse to have perfect fraternity with other 
sects. In fact, if it be true that the "real church' 
is the "invisible, universal church," and all 
"Christians are in it," it is clearly an inexcusable 
presumption on the part of the Baptists that they 
do not heartily co-operate with their "sister 
churches" in all Christian effort. If Methodists, 
Presbyterians, Camipbellites, Catholics,j and all 
other? who are Christians, are in this big church, 
they are evidently as much in it as the Baptists 
are, and are entitled to its special privileges as 
truly as the Baptists can be. Why then should 
the Baptists assume to control the ordinances of 
this "true church," when others have membership 
in it as well, and on the same terms? If- we 
accept the "big church" idea, let us also accept 
the open communion, open baptism, and open 
ordination ideas. If we have nothing distinctive 
for a plea, we should not assume to lord it over 



102 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

others who are just as much in the thing as we 
are. The charge is unhesitatingly made that 
those Baptists who accept the big, universal 
church idea, are inconsistent in contending for 
close communion, Baptists immersion only, and 
Baptist ordination. If all others are in this big 
church, then they have as much right to these 
ordinances as Baptists have. 

For our part we deny this whole "invisible, 
universal church" idea. There is but one sort of 
a church in the New Testament ;and that is a 
local and visible church. A few passages are 
here cited to show the existence of local, visible 
churches: Acts 9:31, Then had the churches 
rest. Acts 15:41, Comforting the churches. 
Acts 16:5, Churches established. Acts 19:37,. 
Neither robbers of churches. Rom. 16 :4, 
Churches give thanks ; vs. 16, Churches of Christ 
salute 'you. 1 Cor. 7:17, In all the churches. I 
Cor. 11:16, No such custom, neither the churches 
of God. 1 Cor. 14 :22, As in all the churches ; vs. 
34, Keep silence in the churches. 1 Cor. 16:1, 
Given to all the churches ; vs. 19, The churches of 
Asia. 2 Cor. 8:1, The churches of Macedonia; 
vs. 19, Chosen of the churches; vs. 23, Messen- 
gers of the churches. 2 Cor. 11:8, I robbed other 
churches; vs. 28, Care of all the churches. 2 
Cor. 12:13, Inferior to other churches. Gal. 1: 
22, Unknown by face to the churches. 1 Thess. 
2:14, Churches of God. 2 Thess. 1:4, In the 
churches. Rev. 1:4, Seven churches; vs. 20, An- 
gels of the churches; the candlesticks are the 
seven churches. Rev. 2 :7, What the Spirit saith 



The New Issue. 103 

to the churches. Etc., etc. Any reader can see 
that the references above are to visible assem- 
blies of people, and that these assemblies had a 
local meeting place as a visible multitude to make 
the congregation. 

The word "church" means an assembly; 
most generally a small assembly that can con- 
veniently meet together. But always an assem- 
bly considered as in convention. In a few pas- 
sages in the Scriptures, like Heb. 12:23— "The 
General Assembly and church of the First Born" 
— the aggregate of the saved is considered as 
being collected in one meeting, and they thus 
constitute a church. But there is not a passage 
in the Bible where the word "church" is so used 
as to embrace all the saved, in their divided, 
scattered, uncollected dispersion. When all the 
saved are included they are considered as assem- 
bled together. When they are scattered they are 
never spoken of as a church. There is, therefore, 
no such a thing known in the Bible as an "invis- 
ible, universal church." This fiction is of modern 
creation, and is designed to include all those who 
are supposed to be saved, so as to allow them 
to have some sort of ecclesiastical fraternity in 
church matters. But Jesus Christ, the founder 
of New Testament churches, never gave us such 
an imaginary body, and no inspired writer ever 
makes mention of such a church. All the 
churches we read of in the Scriptures wer^ Ioc^l 
bodies, with local meeting places, for visible 
assemblies of men and women. 

When we look at the New Testament 



104 Memoirs of hid. J. N. Hall. 

churches as vis-ole assemblies we can see the 
meaning of several potent points : 

1. it could be said to triem, "Let your lights 
so shine before men," etc. Matt. 5:16. Visible 
church members can do this. Invisiole church 
members cannot. 

2. It can be said ye are as "a city that is 
set on a hill that cannot be hid." Matt. 5 :14. An 
"invisible church" must always be "nid," else it 
would not be "invisible;" but a visible church 
can ba thus manifest, like a city. 

3. A visible church can receive and execute 
the commission of Matt. 28:19-20. But an invisi- 
ble church cannot. Because — 

(1) If there are any preachers in the "in- 
visible church" they could not deliver the gospel 
message to visible audiences for the reason. that 
visible audiences would not quietly listen to* the 
"invisible preacher" while he would talk. 

(2) If there is any baptism in the "invisi- 
ble church" it could not be administered by 
"invisible administrators" to visible subjects, for 
the reason that no sensible man or woman would 
allow the ghostly fingers of the "invisible 
preachers" to be fumbling around their necks or 
waists. 

(3) They would have no ability to admin- 
ister the Lord's Supper, bec?use it is a memorial 
service to be seen by mer, a^d an "invisible 
church" could not thus observe it. 

(4) It could not formulate or propagate the 
doctrines of the commission for the reason that 
this must be done in the use of visible means and 



The New Issue. 1U5 

for the good of visible people, which could not be 
done by an "invisible cnurch." 

(5) It could never have the fellowship that 
is contemplated in the commission because this 
fellowship is of the disciples who may be con- 
verted under the preaching of the gospel, and 
ihey are an visible people, and would not know 
how to be in fellowship with an "invisible 
church." 

But all this could be true of visible churches, 
with visible preachers and visible ordinances, 
this must be done in the use of visible means, and 
Hence Christ gave the commission to his visible 
churches. 

4. There is no need for this "invisible 
church." (1) Christians don't need it because 
it can do them no good. (2). God don't need it 
because it cannot manifest his glory. (3). The 
world don't need it because it neither preaches 
the gospel by precept or example, and could be 
of no service. 

5. This "invisible church" cannot perform 
any of the functions of a church. It cannot have 
a church meeting, nor a pastor, nor deacons, nor 
a church record, nor exercise discipline, nor 
receive members, nor exclude members, nor sipg, 
nor pray, nor preach, nor do anything else a 
church is expected to do. 

6. The members of the "invisible church" 
are entirely ignorant of their surroundings. 
There is nobody who can prove he is in such a 
church. If he is in it, he don't know it, and no 
•one else knows it. If any one else is in it his 



106 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

neighbors, his brethren, nor any one else can ever 
know it. If it had an enemy no hurt could be done 
by him, because he could never find the thing he 
hates. Nobody could ever hate it, because it has 
neither form nor fashion, and is composed of 
nothing — so far as anybody can tell. If it had a 
friend he could never do it a kindness because he 
could not know where, on what, or on whom to 
bestow his attentions, for the reason the thing is 
without form and void. No one knows who else 
is in it. No one knows that he is himself in it. 
Men get into it unconsciously, if at all. It seems 
to be accidental, and by birth. A man is no more 
responsible for being in the "invisible church" 
than for being in the world, for he was not con- 
sulted about it any more than about being born. 
He gets no good out of it to himself, and does no 
good in it for anybody else. It really has no 
fellowship, for no one knows to whom fellow- 
ship should be extended. Such a "church" never 
had Christ for its founder and head. 

7. The "invisible church" is a medley of 
contradictions, if it is anything. It is said to 
have in it the saved of all denominations. These 
"saved" people at the same time that they are in 
the "invisible church" are also in their different 
denominational churches, and hold to all the 
peculiar doctrines of their several denominations. 
They have Mormons with their polygamy, Catho- 
lics with their wafer eod, Episcopalians with 
their sacramental ritualism, Universalists with 
their no-hell doctrine, Presbyterians with their 
unconditional decrees, Methodists with their 



The New Issue. 107 

apostasy, Campbellites with their baptismal sal- 
vation, Baptists with their close communion, all 
mixed together in one "invisible body," cemented 
together by the conflicting doctrines of infant 
baptism vs. believer's baptism; salvation by 
groce vs. salvation by works; final perseverance 
vs. apostasy; open communion vs. close commun- 
ion; episcopacy vs. Congregationalism 1 ; affusion 
vs. immersion, and a hundred other conflicting 
doctrines! All these people, with all these doc- 
trines, are supposed to be peacefully and uncon- 
sciously pillowing their heads upon the bosom of 
this "invisible church! !" Is it possible that such 
an outrage on common sense, to say nothing of 
the outrage on the Bible, can have serious advo- 
cates amongst men? 

8. It would be hard to draw a picture of an 
"invisible church," but it must have semblance 
to a monstrous beast whose head is a lamb, whose 
neck is a lion, whose legs are a tiger, a hyena, a 
bear and a panther; whose body is made up of 
babies, fawns, birds, and bugs, whose tail is a 
stinging, vicious scorpion, and whose every part 
is feeding upon every other part, to its inevitable 
destruction. Such a beast would be no more 
monstrous than the modern fiction of an "invisi- 
ble church" made up of devouring, conflicting, 
contradictory, absurd, irreconcilable doctrines 
and peoples of the religious world, so-called. 
There is no conception of Christ's church that is 
not outraged by this monstrous thing. 

9. I most emphatically deny that I have any 
membership in such a thing as this "invisible 



108 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

church." If I am a member I don't know it, and 
it is against my will. I have been kidnapped into 
it as clearly as any infant was ever kidnapped by 
a Romish priest into the Romish hierarchy; and 
if that is its plan of receiving members it is no 
better than the Romish superstition of infant 
baptism. If I am in it, I am determined to get 
out of it if possible. It is a Babel of confusion, 
and God is not its author. As it has no law of 
ingress, no stimulus to progress, and is only an 
occasion of distress, I must respectfully decline 
its duress, being disgusted with its process, and 
with the thing itself. 

10. There are not two sorts of churches of 
Christ — one big, invisible church, and the other 
little, visible churches. If so, then a man would 
belong to two churches at once. He would get 
into the big church unconsciously, and unavoid- 
ably, and into the little church on purpose. In the 
big church he would do nothing but look wise, 
feel good, and be nobody; while in the little 
church he could suit his fancy in faith and proc- 
tice, since all the little churches are human insti- 
tutions ! It is not possible for me to believe such 
absurd stuff. 

11. Separate particles cannot form organ- 
izations except by being collected together. There 
are many Masons in the world. Any unmber of 
them can be organized into local lodges, but all 
of them taken together would not make a lodge 
out of which there are no Masons. Amid the gov- 
ernments of the world there are many Repub- 
licans, and these could be formed into a Rer>ubli- 



The New Issue. 109 

can party, or parties; but all the Republicans in 
the world do not make a great big Republican 
party out of which there are no Republicans. 
Stones can be built together and thus make 
houses ; but all the houses do not make one great 
big, universal house, out of which there are no 
stones, or houses. So God has a family of chil- 
dren, and these can be organized into churches; 
but all the children of God do not make one great, 
big, universal church, out of which there are no 
children of God. The very idea of such a big 
church is absurd from every standpoint. 

12. The believers in the universal church 
are not agreed as to how one gets into it. Bap- 
tists are supposed to be put in by Conversion; 
Methodists are supposed to be born members of 
it; Presbyterians baptize their babies into it; 
Campbellites baptize sinners into it; Episco- 
palians enter by confirmation; the Hardshells 
have been in from the foundation of the world. 
Mormons are immersed into it; Catholics are 
sprinkled into it, and the Universalists get into it 
without doing anything ! If here is such a church 
it should have some uniformity about it, and it 
would have. But the dreamy fiction has neither 
form nor fashion, in either its membership, its 
laws, its terms, or anything else. It is all a 
dreami. 

13. How different from all this is the New 
Testament idea of a church. A visible company 
of disciples, with a pastor, deacons, a place of 
worship, gospel, ordinances, songs, prayer, wor- 
ship and a visible influence and existence in the 



110 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

world. Such a church can honor God, bless the 
world, have fellowship one with another, stand 
for the truth, be persecuted, be loved, be hated, 
and be known in the world. That is a New Tes- 
tament church — a Baptist church. It has no con- 
flict of doctrines, no antagonism of faiths, no 
self-destroying inconsistencies. Such churches 
were in existence in the Apostolic day. They 
were Baptist churches. They were on the Bap- 
tist model, had the Baptist mould, preached the 
Baptist faith, observed the Baptist ordinances, 
^nd had the Baptist promises of perpetuity to 
the end of the ages. There has not been an hour 
of time since the Son of Man walked on the earth 
in his ascent to the mountain summit to preach 
his inaugural sermon to his kingdomi, that there 
have not been Baptist churches, after their scrip- 
tural model, witnessing to men the gospel of 
Jesus Christ, and administering to believers the 
ordinances of his house. Here on this solid rock 
Baptists stand. They refuse to lamliate with 
man-made churches because they are man-made. 
We don't have to affiliate because we are not man- 
made. The Baptists keep open their doors for 
the reception of all believers who desire their 
fellowship. All believers can get in on the same 
terms Baptists had to comply with, and all who 
are in have one common fellowship. But they 
form no entangling alliances. Our principles 
are scriptural, consistent, reasonable. 

1. No "invisible church." 

2. Visible churches administer the ordi- 
nances. 



The New Issue. 1.11 

3. Visible churches were entrusted with the 
entire work of the commission. 

5. Visible churches are New Testament 
churches. 

6. Visible churches are Baptist churches. 

7. Therefore Baptist churches are author- 
ized to do all the work committed to New Testa- 
ment churches. 

How, then, can we affiliate with other 
churches without a surrender of these patent 
truths ? 

Baptists very cheerfully consent to the doc- 
trine that there are Christians outside of Baptist 
churches ; but they are outside of New Testament 
churches whenever that is the case. It is their 
duty to come into New Testament churches, and 
not the duty of New Testament churches to go 
out to them. Everybody admits Baptist churches 
to be as true churches as any others can be. 
Hence, if everybody should become Baptists they 
would be as truly in a New Testament church as 
it would be possible for them to be in any other, 
even allowing others to judge the case. That 
shows that Baptists have the essentials of a New 
Testment church, others being judge. If that be 
true, then all others must fall short of these 
essentials, since they differ from the Baptists; 
and that leaves the Baptists occupying the 
ground. It is plainly the dutv of the Baptists to 
stand consistently on their safe ground, to decline 
all compromising affiliations with other churches, 
to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered 
to them, to preach "all the words of this life," to 



112 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long suffering 
and doctrine, and to walk by the "Landmarks" of 
the faith as our fathers did. Then wise men will 
respect us for our consistency, and admire our 
logic, and be convinced by our gospel; God will 
be honored, the churches of Christ will prove 
faithful to their trust, and man-made institutions 
and false churches will receive their well-deserved 
rebukes. Thus Baptists will be able to do what 
no other people under heaven can do, that is, do 
the work of the New Testament churches. 

Most sincerely do I trust the plain truths of 
this book will cause all who love Christ to duly 
consider the absurd things they are now, possibly, 
accepting; and also enable all to see how consis- 
tent, and reasonable, and Scriptural are the posi- 
tions occupied by the Baptists. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



EDITORIALS. 



It would be so much more noble for a Bapias* 
editor to aid a supposed suffering missionary than 
to chuckle over his supposed necessities. Such 
editors can sneer more easily than give. 



The sympathy of friends in a time of 
bereavement is a precious heritage to the soul. 
but this d )es not heal the wound of death. 

Thar k God for the doctrine that it is "far 
better to depart and be with Christ'' than to 
remain h :re, even when we can work for him. 

The ways of providence are inscrutable, but 
he doeth all things well. We can't see it now, but 
we will s >e it hereafter. ''Though he slay me, yet 
will I tr ist him." 



Baj tists do not need, and will not have, any 
Methodist presiding elders to run them or their 
churches. The Lord didn't make them to be 
bossed ; 'n that style. When any of them consent 
to it they cease to that extent to be Baptists. 



It may seem unmanly to weep, but the Mas- 
ter set the example, and his tears in the home of 



114 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

Bethary are warrants that will justify* the tears 
in our stricken home. 



The home beyond takes shape very largely 
in the soul in proportion to the loved ones over 
there. To us it is becoming more and more desir- 
able. 



a- 



'I could wish myself accursed from Christ 
for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the 
flesh." Let that spirit be in you and you will do 
something for the lost heathen. 



The rich churches of the South may be rep- 
resented in the next Convention if they plank 
down the price, but poor churches won't stand 
any show. That is a monied affair. 



A home in heaven is all the more precious 
when the loved ones are housed in it, and they 
are gathering one by one. How the heart does 
yearn for these sweet fellowships again. 



Baptist doctrine is Bible doctrine expressed 
in human speech; while Bible doctrine is Baptist 
doctrine expressed in inspired words. That is all 
the difference. If you accept either you will 
accept the truth. 



"Preach the gospel in the regions beyond 
you." This was Paul's hope. It should be ours, 
for the great outside world is in great need of the 
gospel of Christ. 



Editorials. 115 

"Be ye steadfast, immovable," is an exhorta- 
tion that bespeaks backbone and nerve, and Paul 
knew it would require these to meet the issues of 
the day. 

Many churches submit to the present form 
of the "organized work" simply because they feel 
that they ought to do something for the cause, 
and at the same time they feel that there is need 
cf reform. These churches ought to have a voice 
in the business so they can help to improve the 
situation. 



Baptist liberty is a precious heritage, and the 
privilege of free speech will not be surrendered 
at the beck and call of any conclave of any sort 
or size. Baptists love to talk, and we want them 
to know the Flag is a free forum. 



"Despise ye the church of God?" That is 
Paul's significant question to the Corinthinas 
when they took liberties with a divine appoint- 
ment. The same question has great significance 
now when there is such a general disposition to 
ignore the divine appointments of our Lord in the 
work of his churches. 



Was Christ baptized to make him a Son of 
God? No. He was baptized to manifest the fact 
that he was God's Son. For that reason we are 
to be baptized. Christ has left us an example 
that we may walk in his steps. Be sure you do it. 



116 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

In Baptist churches majorities should always 
rule, unless some principles are involved that can 
not be decided by vote. Matters of method and 
policy can be safely left to the majority. 



"Go ye into all the world and teach school" 
is not the way the commission reads in our Bible. 
But that seems to be the idea of the Home Board 
by the use they make of mission funds in support- 
ing schools in some sections of the country. 



Don't be afraid to give your people sound, 
square, Baptist doctrine. They need it, and even 
if they don't like it, the best thing for them is 
plenty of it. They will learn to love the taste of 
it by and by, and cry for it. 



The doctrine of baptism as a condition of 
pardon is the very heart of Arminianism, and is 
a deadly item of faith. Some people would rather 
be lost than to give it up, and they will be lost if 
they denend on it. 



If Jesus shed his blood for his churches, and 
made them the bearers of his message of love to 
lost sinners, it is not too much for his disciples to 
contend for the honor and authority of these 
churches in the execution of his will. The Flag 
stands on that nlatform. 



Hard times should not be an excuse for with- 
holding your contributions from the Lord's cause, 



Editorials. 117 

but they might be a good reason for curtailing 
your useless and hurtful indulgences. 



Lazarus could enter paradise and rest on 
Abraham's bosom though he didn't have money to 
pay for the crumbs that fell from the rich man's 
table. But the rich man could have secured a 
seat in the Southern Baptist Convention while 
Lazarus would have been left out with the dogs. 



The soul sleeper is a Job's comforter of an 
excuse when he stands in the presence of those 
who are bereft by death. A really sensible man 
would try to explain such a doctrine if it was 
taught in the Bible, and when it is manufactured 
and preached without scriptural support it is 
actually inhuman and vicious. 



Baptists have authority to administer the 
ordinances of the Lord's house, because he gave it 
to them when he started out ; but the factions that 
have seceded from the Baptists and the organi- 
zations that have been built by men have no such 
E^thority, because Christ never gave it to them. 
Come to the people who have the ordinances and' 
you will make no mistake in them. 



All Christian people are to shine as lights in 
the world, and if the light in them be darkness, 
how great is that darkness. Because somebody 
must depend upon me, or you, or both, for light, 
we ought always to be shining. Reader, who is 
getting any light from you ? 



118 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

In our estimation a man is better than his 
money, and the church is better than the man, and 
a convention organized to "elicit, combine ana 
direct" theso churches should never be base 
enough to make the money that a man has the 
condition on which his manhood will be recog- 
nized. 



"Nov/ abideth faith, hope, love, tnese three, 
but the greatest of these is love." These words 
are significant of what was true in Paul's day, but 
in this day it would be well to add "money" to the 
list, and make it the greatest. In fact, you are 
not counted worthy of much love unless you have 
the money. You can't get a seat in the Southern 
Baptist Convention on faith, hope or love, but you 
can on money. 



A brother said to us the other day: "lour 
fight is vain. Too many against you. The 
machinery of the whole denomination is opposing 
you, and the wonder is that you have not already 
been crushed." Ah, but there are more than 
7,000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal, and 
the number is multiplying rapidly. It will be a 
long time before all the Baptists will bend their 
necks to the episcopal yoke and sneeze when the 
"leaders" take snuff. They don't have to do it, 
and they won't. You never saw a more composed 
set of Baptists than these in the Flag office, 
because we know we are right, and that our Bap- 
tist people are rapidly seeing it our way. 



Editorials. 119 

And you say you want your religious paper 
to be sweet, and easy, and tender, and loving, and 
on good terms with everybody? You don't like 
to read criticisms, nor exposure of wrongs nor 
contentions with teachers of error, nor any special 
claims for the Baptists above other people ! You 
like to see your editor dress well, write moral 
essays, keep mum on everything that is signifi- 
cant, so that you can introduce him around to 
your religious friends of other denominations, 
and hand out his papers for others to read 
because you know they will not be offended by 
any remarks about Baptist doctrine! If you 
demand all this we know some so-called Baptist 
papers that wil] fill your bill in most all details, 
but in most of these demands the Flag won't suit 
you. The Flag is a Baptist paper, both in name 
and in fact, and every reader of it will say so 
whether he likes it or not. 



THE AMERICAN BAPTIST FLAG STANDS FOR: 

1. Orthodoxy. The doctrines of the Word. 

2. The Churches. Scriptural member- 
ship, organization, ordinances, government. 

3. Scriptural Practice in all departments 
cf religious effort. 

4. Missions, the preaching of the gospel tj 
all men, nations, races. 

5. Christian Education in the home, 
school, press. 

6. Civic Righteousness, or Christian, as 
against Pagan, ethics in civil government. 



120 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

7. Liberty. Freedom of speech, publication 
and conscience, in church and state. 



METHODS IN MISSIONS. 

1. The commission was given to the 
churches. They are subject to Christ and inde- 
pendent of all human control. They cannot dele- 
gate either their duties or liberties. 

2. Associations, conventions and boards 
should be creatures, not creators, subject and re- 
sponsible to, and not independent of, the churches. 
Their function is advisory, educational, not legis- 
lative. Independent, sovereign conventions, com- 
posed of irresponsible individuals, associated on a 
money basis, have no legal, moral or other claim 
upon the support or co-operation of the churches. 

3. The right to direct their own individual 
work is primary in the churches. They can work 
direct or co-operate with other churches, create 
cr remove mutual agencies and do all things nec- 
essary to effect the work and maintain their in- 
dependence. Opposition to these primary rights 
puts the opponent on unscriptural, unbaptistic, 
anti-missicn ground, destroys his claims upon 
the churches and forces them to defend and main- 
tain their rights and independence. Being sub- 
ject to Christ alone they dare not submit to men. 
Two sovereigns cannot occupy the same territory, 
at the same time, without conflict. A sovereign 
convention means war with sovereign churches. 
The destruction of church independence means 
the destruction of Baptist principles and churches 
and of all co-operative work, of the convention 



Editorials 121 

itself. If the convention is composed of individ- 
uals on a money basis and independent of the 
churches, let these same individuals run it, pay 
the bills and leave the churches alone. Slaves 
may operate under, but they cannot co-operate 
with, masters. "One is your Master, even Christ, 
and all ye are brethren." Whoso assumes sov- 
ereignty assumes mastery, the authority of 
Christ, and destroys fraternity, equality and 
peace. 



RIGHTS AND DUTIES. 

Liberty of speech, publication and conscience 
are inherent in, and necessary to, justice and 
truth. The rights to enjoy these privileges carry 
with them the cognate duties of allowing others 
the same rights. The right to speak it the duty 
to hear; to publish the duty to be published; to 
criticise to be criticised ; to fight to be fought ; to 
destroy to be destroyed. Free speech and con- 
science are the bulwarks of truth; suppression 
and ostracism the implements of despotisms. 

A chief glory of Baptists is their successful 

contention for these rights and conscientious dis- 
i 

charge of these duties. 

No man or paper has a right to the name 
Baptist unless he or it practices these things. A 
paper that criticises and allows others to criticise 
a thing or person and refuses to allow the criti- 
cised the right of reply or defense, may print the 
name Baptist in big letters at the top, but at the 
bottom it is anti-Baptist and anti-truth. 

The Baptist Flag is a Baptist paper. 



122 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

Its columns are open to all Baptists, to write 
what they wish. It criticises and it is criticised. 
The editors speak what they believe and it allows 
its correspondents to do the same. If Baptists do 
not use it, it is because they will not. It wears 
no man's yoke, yokes no man. It fears no man, 
asks no man to fear it. Free, it takes no man'j 
liberty away. 

On these basic principles it stands, for them 
it has, does and will contend. It is right and it 
a great success. 

It is read and loved by 40,000 true Baptists ; 
stands in the center of Baptist principles and con- 
tends for truth and justice; keeps in the middle 
cf the road ; will not and cannot be swerved from 
Its purpose; and conscious of its integrity, fears 
no criticism and courts no flatter. It would be 
ashamed to ask for Baptist support if it did less. 

If you want the whole truth about Baptist 
affairs, in the whole South, read The American 
Baptist F]ag. 



The only perfect translation of the Bible into 
the Burmese language was given by Dr. Judson. 
There is no other version that approaches it for 
perfection, and the Burmans know it, and have a 
decided partiality for it, because of its recognized 
excellence. But Dr. Judson, being a Baptist, be- 
lieved the Lord ought to be allowed to speak to the 
people in his own way about baptism as well as 
about everything else, and he translated baptizo 
into the language of the Burmans without equivo- 
cation or prejudice. The American Bible Society, 



Editorials. 123 

being a Pedo-baptist concern, refused to aid in the 
publication and circulation of Judson ? s translation 
just because it was a translation, true to the origi- 
nal. At that time there was no other translation 
amongst the Burmans, but this Pedobaptist 
Society was willing to let them grope in darkness, 
and die with no knowledge of God's holy word, 
rather than let them read about the true baptism, 
in the language of the Holy Spirit ! Now, again, 
this same Society, recognizing the superiority of 
Judson's translation, is seeking to make a compro- 
mise with the Burman missionaries so as to have 
the translation modified to suit the Society. It is 
well for Baptists to know that this Bible Society 
is so partisan in its Pedo-baptist proclivities that 
it would prefer to see people live in ignorance and 
heathenism rather than see them become Bap- 
tists. That is one of the smallest things we have 
ever known any society of men to be guilty of. 
Surely their Pedo-baptist zeal has overbalanced all 
sober judgment. 



Why should the ressurrection from the dead 
be a doctrine that in any wise could stagger be- 
lief? When we remember that it is a work that 
must be accomplished by a divine energy the dif- 
ficulties of its accomplishment all vanish. The 
Lord that made the human form from the dust of 
the ground can easily raise it up again out of the 
dust. The glorious hope of the ressurrection from 
the dead is an inspiring prospect to those of us 
who have loved ones sleeping in the dust. To be 
able to return with them to scenes of our earthly 
toils, and walk in the unfailing strength of an im- 



124 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

mortal youth, as we go up and down the renewed 
and redeemed earth, will be glorious indeed. The 
resurrection means this and ten thousand times 
more. 

In the light of Paul's teachings the resurrec- 
tion is the most important item in our Christian 
faith. If there is no resurrection from the dead 
then Christ is not raised, and all our preaching 
is vain, and our faith is vain, and we are yet in 
our sins, and are without hope, and are most mis- 
erable. But Christ arose from the dead, and be- 
came the first fruits of them that sleep. Because 
he lives they shall live also. He is the resurrec- 
tion and the life. These vile, mortal, coruptible 
bodies will be fashioned after his glorious body, 
and death shall be swallowed up in victory. Grave- 
yards and monuments have their day now, but 
when the resurrection time shall come that day 
will pronounce the doom to all of death's insignia. 

There will be a resurrection of the dead. Not 
a new creation. Not a partial revival. But a res- 
urrection. The dead, all of the dead, that part 
that is dead, shall come to life again. It will be 
real life, for a real, dead body. The resurrection 
will not be for the Spirit, for it is not dead. It is 
for the body, for the body dies. The object of 
the resurrection is to overthrow death as it relates 
to mankind, and the bodies of men, not their spir- 
its, are in death's grasp. So the resurrection will 
bring our bodies back to life again, and all the 
dead, both small and great, will live again in their 
bodies with as real life as they ever had. 

The life that accompanies and follows the res- 
urrection will be determined by the character of 



Editorials. 125 

the individual. The resurrection life is to be the 
consummation of this life. While in this life we 
are in the ante-room, in the preparatory depart- 
ment of life. We start in with the understanding 
that this life is uncertain in its duration. We are 
born to die. Mutation and change are written on 
everything around us. Nothing in this mortal 
state is abiding. The eternal and unchangeable 
verities are beyond death, and the dying bodies ol 
mankind must have the resurrection in order to 
realize what eternal life means. Those who are 
counted with the saved will have a resurrection 
unto an endless life of joy. Those who are damned 
will have their life in endless punishment. Both 
classes will be raised up from the dead, and their 
character will determine the destiny of their res- 
urrected bodies. 



Hardshell Baptists, and "Regular Baptists" 
are good people. Some royal, first-class people 
among them. Many of them we count as our 
personal friends, and if ecclesiastical questions 
could be settled on the personal, individual good- 
ness and cleverness of people, we would count 
most of these people sound. But ecclesiastical 
issues are not settled by the personal character of 
those who maintain either side of them. They 
must be decided by their own respective merits, 
and from that standpoint the Flag does not hesi- 
tate to say that neither the Hardshells nor "Reg- 
ular Baptists" can be regarded as churches of 
Christ, with authority to administer the ordi- 
nances of a gospel church. Beginning in 1832 
the Hardshell Baptists withdrew from correct 



126 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

Baptist churches, that are now called Missionary 
Baptist Churches, and provoked a schism that de- 
clared non-fellowship for the mother churches. 
Heresy in doctrine and practice, with a repudi- 
ation of the ordinances of Christ, and a disregard 
for his command to preach the gospel to the lost 
of earth, forfeited all claim they ever had to be 
regarded as churches of Christ. For this reason 
their preachers are unordained, their baptisms 
invalid, .their communion is unscriptural, their 
church organization is without authority, and the 
whole thing can be regarded as a schism in con- 
stant antagonism with the true churches of 
Christ. "Regular Baptists" have no other eccle- 
siastical relation than the connection they had 
with the Hardshells, and as a stream cannot rise 
above its fountain, neither can the "Regulars" 
have any better organization than their parent 
stock — the Hardshells. 

Now, Missionary Baptist churches are the 
true churches, and can administer valid baptism, 
scriptural communion and give proper ordination 
and church organization, and no others can do it. 
It is therefore inconsistent to receive the bap- 
tisms, communion, ordinations or church organi- 
zations of these schismatics. To do so is to place 
them on an ecclesiastical level with ourselves, 
and this is to surrender the grounds for our own 
separate existence. If Missionary Baptist 
churches are true churches of Christ, then Hard- 
shells and Regulars are not. If they are true 
churches of Christ, then Missionary Baptists are 
not. They are consistent in rejecting our bap- 
tisms ; we are inconsistent when any of us receive 



Editorials. 127 

theirs. The Flag never does it, and does not en- 
dorse the practice of any who may do it. — 2-25-04. 



A lot of folks called Baptists have introduced 
convention sovereignty, alien immersion, invisible 
church and other departures from the Bible and 
Baptist principles, which ihas (precipitated 
a Good healthful discussion over the South. 
And now since the true-blue Baptists are 
speaking out against their innovations the 
heretics who brought on the dispute are 
yelling, "Quit wrangling and go to work!" 
Verily the Baptists are at work, their principal 
business in the world being to protect and defend 
the truth. Baptists, like Israel of old, can rebuild 
their Jerusalem and fight at the same time. If 
these lusty yellers want the fuss stopped let them 
stop their heresies. 



The inventors have exhausted their wits in 
making the best sewing machines with the small- 
est possible measure of machinery, but our reli- 
gious "leaders are exhausting their wits to in- 
vent the greatest possible amount of machinery 
to run a small measure of mission work. — 2-11-04. 



An association is nothing more than a con- 
ference of apointed messengers to confer together 
about things that are best for the growth of the 
kingdom of Christ. An association has no power 
at all over churches, and can do nothing more 
than confer, and advise. The churches them- 
selves are the executives of the work Chirst as- 
signed them, and no human society has any right 



128 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

to usurp authority over tnem or interfere with 
their work. 



There is strong consolation in the doctrine 
that proclaims God's special care over his people. 
He does not look on with an air of indifference 
while his children struggle with the enemy of 
souls. So much is he interested that he provides 
strength, for their every day and trial; none of 
their steps are permitted to slide; the hairs of 
their heads are numbered, and all things are made 
to work together for their good. The Lord's eyes 
are in every place, and his watchfulness will not 
be in vain. Brother, sister, look up. The Lord 
lives, and his divine guidance will bring you 
to his home at last. 



What does life mean, anyhow ! We come into 
it helpless, and are carried through it by rushing 
tides we cannot resist, and finally go out of it 
in spite of all our efforts to change our fate. Like 
the grass that today is, and tomorrow is cast into 
the oven, so is mortal life. It is like a weaver's 
shuttle, or a tale that is told. Yet it is fraught 
with tremendous responsibilities. It sets in mo- 
tion influences that sweep on forever. It gives 
opportunity to form friendships that are sweeter 
than life, and so strong that they cannot be brok- 
en by death. A short life, busily engaged in 
doing good to others, can be of such tremendous 
service as to be a great benediction to the world. 
A word fitly spoken, a kindly deed that relieve^ 
distress, a helping hand to those who are down, a 
ray of light on some dark pathway, all these, 



Editorials. 129 

though simple in themselves, may be made of 
tremendous power in changing the tide in the af- 
fairs of men, and lay up an eternal reward jf 
weal or woe for the life to come. It is a fearful 
thing to live, and if we rightly live, it is a small 
matter to die. 



The tendency toward compromise in religious 
matters is clearly seen in all such organizations as 
the Young Men's Christian Association, the 
Christian Endeavor Society, the Evangelical Alli- 
ance, the Salvation Army, and the various Sunday- 
school unions that dot the land. All of these or- 
ganizations have as their supreme motive the de- 
termination to ostracise any man who is bold 
enough to stand by his religious convictions. For 
our part we have as little use for any of these 
organizations as they can possibly have for us. 
We believe their tendency to be only and always 
toward evil. Liberalism necessarily means a be- 
trayal of a royal trust, and the liberalist, by any 
name, is a traitor to the truth. 



It has ever been a Baptist heritage to have un- 
restrained liberty in thought and speech. The 
only restriction that can be considered is that 
every statement must be true. If the speaker or 
writer, is sure that what he speaks is the truth he 
has no need to fear any padlock on his lips. He is 
at liberty to exercise his Baptist freedom in speak- 
ing freely all the truth he knows. In fact, it is the 
duty of every Baptist to tell the truth, the whole 
truth, and nothing but the truth. No one has a 
moral rite to suppress the truth. If the telling of 



130 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

it hurts any man or any measure it will be because 
such a man or measure, is wrong. Tell all the 
truth. 



How much of our money should be given to 
our schools and colleges ? It seems to us that this 
is a very pertinent question in view of the rush and 
dash to secure endowments here of late. We be- 
lieve our schools are worthy of a liberal support. 
They should have good houses, good and extensive 
apparatus for Scientific experiments and study, 
and a good equipment generally. To do the most 
effective work this is very necessary. To supply 
all of this would not be a very severe tax on the 
people. But we are suspicious of large sums of 
money in stocks and bonds, the interest of which 
goes to pay the teachers their salaries. Columbian 
University has just voted away its Baptist name 
and property. The Chicago University is about 
gone, and its millions have become an incubus on 
our Baptist name. This endowment policy is a 
centralization of power under a moneyed director- 
ship, and is not the best wisdom, in our judgment. 
We are giving our schools large sums of money, 
not so much to cheapen education to the toiling, 
striving young men and women of the land, as to 
have the funds in hand for large salaries for the 
teachers. The strongly endowed institutions of 
learning have as high tuition rates as any others, 
the endowment being used to supplement salaries 
of the professors. 



Baptists do not believe in "Apostolic Succes- 
sion," for that means a succession of apostles ; but 



Editorials. 181 

we believe in the succession of churches. Christ 
did not promise a perpetuity to men, nor to tneir 
office, but he did promise perpetuity to his 
churches. 



"Else what shall they do who are baptized for 
the dead, if the dead rise not at all ? Why then 
were they baptized for the dead?" — 1 Cor. 15:29. 
What does that language mean? It means that 
baptism is intended to preach the doctrine of the 
resurrection of the dead, and if there is to be no 
no resurrection at all, we ought not to be preach- 
ing such a doctrine in our baptism. The only bap- 
tism that Paul knew anything about was an im- 
mersion, or burial, of a believer in water. This 
was a likeness of a burial and a resurrection from 
the dead. But some Corinthians said there is no 
resurrection of the dead. If that be true, why 
should our baptism be a likeness of such a resur- 
rection ? If that Corinthian heresy was true, then 
our baptism would represent a falsehood. But, 
the doctrine of the resurrection is a true doctrine. 
Part of the work has already been accomplished, 
and all of it will be accomplished in good' time. 
All the dead will be raised up to life again, and the 
Lord has appointed the ordinance of baptism to 
represent that fact. For that reason all baptisms 
should have in them a burial and a' resurrection. 
A sprinkling or pouring of water cannot represent 
such a glorious doctrine, but the Lord says that 
immersion can, and does. 



We do not need any episcopacy in Baptist 
ranks and we are not going to put up with any 



132 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

very long. It is entirely out of place in our polity, 
and we are not going to cnange our Christ given 
polity, if we nave tnose wno are ambitious to be- 
come presiding elders tney should go to the Metho- 
dists where they cultivate that sort of sentiment. 



When Cornelius, pastor at Rome, sought to be 
regarded as a metropolitan bishop because he had 
a leading pastorate, it was the introduction of a 
presumptive episcopacy that has afflicted us, more 
or less, ever since Ambitious men would now hold 
place and power if an eternal vigilance did not 
hinder them. But our Baptist polity is essentially 
congregational, and the presiding eldership can 
never be accepted. 2-18-04. 



There is not a church in the Southern Bap- 
tist Convention to which that convention looks for 
direction, nor to which it, or any of its Boards, 
makes any account of its work. You could not 
easily conceive of any body more absolutely inde- 
pendent and soverign as far as the churches are 
concerned. That is a serious defect for a general 
Baptist body. 2-4-04. 



Baptist liberty is a precious heritage, and the 
privilege of free speech will not be surrendered at 
the beck and, call of any conclave, of any sort or 
size. Baptists love to talk, and we want them to 
know the Flag is a free forum. 



The great doctrine of the Bible is the resur- 
rection of the dead. In this there will be such a 
complete triumph over death as to leave not a ves- 



Editorials. 133 

• ' ; j 

tige of his temporary victory. The earth shaii 
cast out her dead, and the teeming millions who 
once walked with us here, will again rejoice in a 
triumphant and imperishable life. This doctrine 
was a glorious thought to Paul. It is also glorious 
to the expectant saints today. Thank God who 
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus 
Christ. 



In the present economy of the organized work 
it is both possible and practical for the boards to 
always hold the balance of power for the mem- 
bership of the convention. In our judgment this 
is not right, but it will take considerable agitation 
to ever change it. 3-31-04. 



Churches may, and should, co-operate. But 
churches may not and should not centralize their 
work. Co-operation is Scriptural and Baptistic; 
but centralization is unscriptural and un-Baptistic. 
—2-18-04. 



And the Baptists have lost Columbian Univer- 
sity! After the tears and labors, and prayers, and 
money of the fathers had carried it through ctorm 
and flood, and war, the present board of Trustees 
as a bid for more money cast aside its denomina- 
tional character as a Baptist institution, and have 
made it "undenominational'" Better be careful 
who owns the colleges you endow. The trustees 
of any of them could sell out for money, some time, 
if they would. 



134 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

Co-operation in all good work; but without 
centralization anywhere. 



Presiding elders have a place in Methodism, 
but no place in our Baptist polity. 

Our boards should show a willingness to re- 
cognize Baptists who give mission money through 
other than board channels as being true Baptists 
nevertheless. 2-11-04. 



The right of criticism on a man who occupies 
a place of public trust was seriously questioned in 
Chattanooga recently. Senator Peak struck one 
old man three times with his cane and struck an- 
other in his eye with his fist, for no other cause ex- 
cept that these men had criticised his official con- 
duct. Is it coming to pass in politics as well as in 
religion that none are allowed to criticize the pub- 
lic doings of our officials? Alas for our boasted 
liberty ! 



It is a mistake to say that a General Associa- 
tion or Convention, of Baptists becomes Presby- 
terianized when the messengers are sent as repre- 
sentatives of the churches. Th only representa- 
tion the churches can have is through messengers. 



The Long Run Association includes the 
churches of Louisville, Ky., and it has recently ce- 
lebrated its centennial meeting. For one hundred 
years this missionary body of royal Baptists has 
stood for the true gospel of Christ, and against all 
comers and goers who sought to inject their here- 
sies into the body. The Long Run Association is 



Editorials. 135 

a generation older than the oldest Hardshell Bap- 
tist church, and it has always been a Missionary 
Baptist body. 



In our judgment there can be no simpler plan 
of mission work than for the churches to select 
.the man they will support, send him their money 
direct, and get a reply and a report direct from 
him. In this way they are in actual touch with 
the work, and their money is not taxed one single 
cent, except for a postage stamp to send the letter. 
You can get a New York draft from any bank, for 
any amount, and it is payable at any mission field 
in the world. You don't have to help pay a high 
salaried secretary if you don't want to. There is 
a more excellent way, a more Scriptural way, and 
it is within easy reach of every church, and every 
individual in every church. You need have no 
fears at all that you will pay any one of them 
that is untrustworthy, and they have all agreed 
that if one receives more than enough for his sup- 
port that he will divide the surplus with the others 
who are short. 



In the idea of the evangelism of this day the 
simple gospel of Christ has a very small place. 
The preacher that can create the greatest sensa- 
tion by reciting the most stories is the man for 
the times. A brother rode with us on the train 
a few days since and asked us to recommend some 
p-ood evangelist to him for a meeting. After^ we 
had commended several plain and powerful 
preachers of the Word to him he said none of 
them would suit his people, because his hearers 



136 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

must have something literary, and the preachers 
referred to knew only the gospel of Christ. What 
are you going to do with that state of affairs ? 



If the doctrines, ordinances and organization 
of the Baptists are from the Lord, then no other 
church or churches can have these unless the Lord 
instituted two churches. If other churches do not 
have these characteristics then they are not 
churches of Christ, and are without his authority 
to administer these services. If other churches 
have received these characteristics from the Lord, 
then Baptists are without authority to administer 
them, and our churches are not the churches of 
Christ. In view of these evident facts there can 
be no consistent interchange of membership, ordi- 
nances, organization or ecclesiastical fellowship 
between Baptists and others. There may be gen- 
uine Christians in all of them, but that is no rea- 
son why any of them should be recognized as be- 
ing fully equipped as churches of Christ. There 
are Christians in the Democratic party, but it is 
not a church of Christ. 



We are decidedly in favor of co-operation, 
and we are just as decidedly opposed to centraliza- 
tion. Let the churches work together in great or 
small numbers, but let the man perish that will 
undertake to be boss over them. 



If the critics who say hard things about the 
Flag would only read it carefully and imbibe its 
spirit there would be a large increase in the num- 



Editorials. 137 

ber of unflinching Baptists in the land. This is 
not self-praise, but the simple truth. 



Some of the leading preachers in the Hard- 
shell ranks in Indiana are coming back home to 
the Missionaries. It is time that all the good ones 
were returning to the fold. They have been out 
in the bleak hills of donothingism long enough. 
There are some good men among them who could 
do good if they were on the right line. 



It is a good thing the Lord don't count people 
and their work like men do. In his sight Paul 
was a royal missionary when he went out without 
a board or convention behind him, but in this age 
he would be set down as a kicker and splitter, and 
would not be counted as a missionary at all. But 
in our judgment Paul was the right sort of a fel- 
low after all. 



A Gospel Missioner is as truly a missionary 
as anybody, and there is no possible question 
about his being a real Baptist. For that reason 
we contend he has as much right to the honors 
and credit of a Baptist as any one else. A man 
don't have to have a board on his back, or over his 
eyes in order to be a Baptist. 

It is truly refreshing: to travel through the 
country and see the roval Baptists who stand so 
firmlv for the faith. They delight to hear Bap- 
tist doctrine proclaimed. They don't want any 
shirkine or apologies for the truth. They believe 
the Lord meant what he said in all his command- 
ments, and they want it all. 



138 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

"We stand for world-wide evangelization. 
That includes Kentucky, the convention, the utter- 
most part of the earth." — Bow's Mission Monthly. 
And that includes the Gospel Missionaries who 
are doing as faithful work on mission fields as 
any one in the business, and are entitler to «is 
much consideration and love. Let us love all the 
missionaries, no difference how they are support- 
ed, if they preach the truth. 



We note that several of our papers are plan- 
ning to have special issues of their papers in the 
interest of the various boards. We are constrain- 
to ask why they do not publish one issue in the 
interest of the Gospel Mission movement? Are 
they not real Baptist missionaries as well as any 
others ? But there will never be a favorable word 
in one of these papers about the work that is 
being done for the Baptist cause by those faithful 
Gospel Mission workers in the field. 



The name "Baptist" should stand for ail that 
can be embraced in Christian character. 



Always be so truthful that your neighbor'- 
will never doubt your word though your state- 
ments seem extravagant. 



Why have a theological seminary that lays 
the foundation for the overthrow of our Baptist 
churches? The one we have does this. 



Don't be afraid to speak out on the temper- 



Editorials. 139 

ance issue. We need a pulpit that will make it 
hot for the topers inside the churches. 



In all probability those who avow the doc- 
trine of modern sanctification are honest about it, 
but that only aggravates their mistake. 



This paper stands for the Baptist doctrine 
and practice, pure and simple, and if we fail at 
any point it is because we do not know 



A Landmark Baptist is nothing but a real 
Baptist with his every-day clothes on, doing his 
own work without calling in any help from others. 



Divine providences are very mysterious to us 
now, but in a coming time all will be made plain. 
We must wait to see the explanation of it all. 



There is no extravagance in the statement 
that Baptist churches are the divinely appointed 
custodians of the ordinances of the gospel, and of 
its dissemination throughout the earth. It is rea- 
snable to believe that Christ would leave a people 
in the earth to represent him in the great work of 
saving the lost, and what people could more ap- 
propriately do such work than his own churches? 
It is absolutely certain that he left no other or- 
ganization except his churches, and to them he 
has committed the sacred trust of the gospel of 
salvation. These churches have this treasure in 
earthen vessels and they should not shrink the re- 
sponsibility that attaches to such a royal service 
for the King, and for a lost world. Each church 



140 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

is to be accounted a factor in the great work of 
evangelization, and has no right to excuse itself 
from service because of the neglect of others. 
Each member of each Baptist church in all the 
earth has a duty laid upon him to pray, and preach 
give to make the work of the world's evangeliza- 
tion a success. Such a work is so Christlike 
that verybody should take special delight in help- 
ing to do it. The angels may well envy us the 
honor we have have in bringing in the lost. Surely 
we are inexcusable if we neglect to do all we can, 
as churches of Christ, to join in and help in send- 
ing the gospel to earth's remotest bounds. 



Differences of opinion as to methods of mis- 
sion work should not occasion a serious rupture 
in denominational matters. Where principles and 
doctrines are not involved there should be liberty 
to all. 



"MOTHER IS NOT EXPECTED TO LIVE. COME AT 

ONCE." 

Such was the telegram that summoned me 
from my meeting in Osceola, Ark., to Arlington, 
Ky., where my father and mother had their 
happy home. I hurried on to the bedside of my 
stricken mother with all the speed possible, trav- 
eling nearly an entire day and night, and reached 
the room about fifteen minutes after her spirit 
had taken its flight and her lips had been sealed 
in death. With anxious and almost bated breath 
I had traveled in the fond hope that I would see 
her alive, and with such constancy, they teli me, 
she asked and longed for my coming. But, alas! 



Editorials. 141 

she went over the river without an oportunity to 
give me the farewell kiss of purest maternal love. 
I humbly bow to the mandate of the Providence 
that so orders and shapes its ends that all things 
work together for good to them that love God, 
and I hope some day to understand all that ap- 
pears severe and mysterious now. 

The loss of a mother is the loss of the truest 
and best friend. There is no such love as a 
mother's love. There are five children of us who 
feel this sentiment as we never felt if before. 
We can easily recall the thousand little services 
undertaken in loving readiness for our good or 
pleasure. Her willing hand to help, or faithful 
warning of danger, or cheering words of inspira- 
tion to her sorrowful children. May God help us 
to imitate her virtues and honor her motherly in- 
structions by lives of usefulness and faith. 

Our dear father is now left to battle with 
life's woes without the strong courageous faith 
of that woman who has shared with him every 
joy or sorrow since the bright days of her maiden- 
hood. For more than thirty-seven years they 
journeyed together in life, but now one is taken 
and the other left. May the hand that smote so 
heavily now apply the healing balm and by his 
grace bind up the broken heart. 

Mother was honored in the love of her entire 
family, her neighbors, her church and pastor, 
and all who knew her. She was permitted to die 
a most triumphant death. For hours before her 
voice grew faint and still she talked of Jesus and 
his love. She sighed to be at rest. She praised 



142 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

the Lord for his grace and salvation and left an 
abiding testimony that 

"Jesus can make a dying bed 

Feel soft as downy pillows are ; 

While on his breast we lean our heads, 

And breathe our lives out sweetly there." 

Dear mother, for a short time we bid thee 
farewell. Soon we expect to take thy hand, and 
with thee sing redemption's joyful refrain. In 
that happy meeting we shall join the innumerable 
company, and the bonds of our union shall be 
broken no more. Bless God for the cheering hope. 

J. N. Hall. 



To depend on human machinery rather than 
the Holy Spirit for our successes in gospel work 
is the fatal mistake. The power of the gospel 
unto salvation does not depend on the voice, the 
gesticulation, or the skill of the speaker so much 
as on the Spirit of God, who uses that gospel as 
a death-dealing and life-giving power. Spirit- 
tilled preachers will accomplish more good than 
the best drilled seminary man who is deficient on 
that point.— 2-4-04. 



It is a fact that the purity of our Baptist 
faith is mainly dependent upon our country 
churches. The cities and large towns are too eas- 
ily caught on the driftwood of liberalism to be 
relied on for a pure orthodoxy. The country pas- 
tors and churches do not have to depend on the 
fads and fancies of the age for their work and 
success, and they can afford to preach the whole 
truth, and nothing but the truth. 



Editorials. 143 

The beauty of our Baptist doctrine is that 
we stand for a number of distinctive truths for 
which no one else stands. If there were no Bap- 
tists these distinctive doctrines would have no ad- 
vocates, and would not be preached. God Li-is 
need for the Baptists to preach that part of its 
truth that no one else will preach. 



Our Baptist children should have the sams 
care for the spiritual supplies as for their mated- 
ial food. It would be cruel for a parent to place 
in the hands of a child apoisonous article for his 
body; of how much sorer punishment suppose ye 
he should be thought worthy if he places poisoned 
doctrine before him for his soul? Be careful about 
the literature you give them. Lots of it is poi- 
sonous. 



The true idea of organized work is to secure 
the co-operation of two or more churches in do- 
ing what one church alone cannot do. But the 
thing to be done is to be subject to the direction 
and control of these churches, whether they be 
many or few. The idea of farming out the work 
to some agency that shall dictate to the churches 
what they must do is foreign to our Baptist policy 
and to the New Testament teaching. The Flag 
believes in co-operation between churches, and 
in a compact and complete organization, but al- 
ways with the churches in the saddle, and with 
every agency subservient to their will. 



We do not at all like the idea that our boards 
have some secrets that the Baptist people ought 



144 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

not to know. In our judgment our Baptist peo- 
ple have a right to know all that is going on in our 
denominational work. They pay the bills, why 
should they not know all about the business? 



The Flag editor has made an average of 
over 600 sermons per year for the past six years, 
besides all his travel and labor in editorial work. 
Do you call that eating idle braed? 



The Flag takes special pleasure in working 
harmoniously with all the brethren whenever we 
can do so without the sacrifice of some cherished 
Baptist principle; but we do most candidly avow- 
that we are sometimes sorely tested before we 
can consent to some things that seem to be popu- 
lar. That money basis of representation we can- 
not swallow. We have never yet seen a valid ar- 
gument in its favor. The condemning of a man, 
or a church, without giving them a hearing, is 
not right, is not Baptistic, and if every Baptist 
in the world should record a vote tomorrow in 
favor of it, the Flag would beg leave to protest 
against it and vote on the other side. We love 
harmony, but we love truth better. 



We are not specially given to personal war- 
fare, but when we have to take off our gloves for 
the business, we believe in doing a good job. 



It is not what a man does, but what he i3 
that counts with God. Man judges by the out- 
ward appearance, but God looks at the heart. 



Editorials. 145 

To the plain, everyday Baptist this money 
basis of representation in a Baptist convention 
is practical sacrilege. It is unscriptural, unrea- 
sonable, un-Baptistic and inexcusable. If there 
was ever a time when the circumstances justified 
it, such is not the case now. To place a man's 
money as the value of the man, and of his 
church, is to make commercialism the ruling spir!t 
of the age. If a man's church is not entitled to 
representation on its own account, then it muse 
be that the church is not equal to the gifts it 
makes. We are crucifying our Lord on a cross of 
gold, and selling him and his cause for a few 
pieces of silver. The money basis of representa- 
tion is a serious travesty on our Baptist religion. 



There was a good point in the saying of Pres- 
ident Lincoln : "I am not so much concerned to 
get the Lord on my side, as to find what side the 
Lord is on and get on that side myself." One is 
more likely to be on the winning side if he gets 
on the Lord's side, than to take the opposite side 
and try to persuade the Lord to change over with 
him. We should seek to discover the Lord's side 
of every proposition, and boldly take our stand 
right there, because we may be sure that side will 
win the victory. But many people are taking 
the side that offers the best pay, the most selfish 
gratification, the largest pleasure, without any 
reference at all to the Lord's will in the case. 
Why should we be surprised at their failures ? 



The articles in Ford's Christian Repository 
on the life of Dr, J. R. Graves, are very fine. The 



146 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

Baptists of the South really have but little idea 
of the debt of gratitude due to that noble saint 
for his bold stand for the truth under &'•! condi- 
tions and circumstances. Dr. Graves was a tower 
of strength in his day. 



The doctrine of a converted church member- 
ship is the polar star of Baptist faith. On this 
pillar we can build the doctrine of the security of 
the believer, an experience of grace, a joyful reli- 
gion, a sybolic baptism and supper, a congrega- 
tional equality in chuch government, and all the 
characteristic doctrines of Baptist faith. A con- 
verted church membership gives love to God, obe- 
dience to Christ, and a genuine fellowship of the 
brethren. 



Dont forget that Baptists have the peculiar 
distinction of being distinct claimants of a Scrip- 
tural church perpetuity that overleaps the chasm 
of the ages and touches hands with Christ and 
the Apostolic age. Such a succession does 
not depend on uncertain statements that may be 
collected from their enemies along the course of 
time, but on the infallible and glorious word of 
the Lord. 



We earnestly beseech our young preachers 
to devote themselves to a diligent study of the 
doctrines that peculiarly distinguish the Baptists 
as a religious people. There is no more efficient 
work than to preach the doctrines. Paul exhorted 
Timothy to "Take heed unto thyself and' unto the 
doctrine; continue in them: for in so doing thou 



Editorials. 147 

wilt save both thyself and them that hear thee." 
The young preacner that informs himself thor- 
oughly on the doctrine will find himself ready 
for every good work. Study to show yourselves 
approved on the doctrine, brothers. 



If the doctrines, ordinances and organization 
of the Baptists are from the Lord, then no other 
church or churches, can have these unless the 
Lord instituted two churches. If other churches 
do not have these caracteristics then they are not 
churches of Christ, and are without his authority 



Should we preach Baptist doctrine plainly to 
the people? Of course we should. The world is 
in need of Baptist doctrine, and how can they 
get it more effectually than by faithfully preach- 
ing of it by our pastors and evangelists? Let 
every pastor who reads the Flag see to it that a 
series of earnest, faithful, doctrinal sermons is 
preached this year to his people. It is better 
for each pastor to preach the doctrines for him- 
self, but if he cannot, or will not, then let some 
one else be invited to do the work. It will be 
strengthening to the cause. 



We desire to specially emphasize the fact that 
it is the right of our Baptist hosts to know what 
our public servants are doing, and' if at any time 
a desire is manifested for the publication of facts, 
or an investigation of proceedings, it is a mighty 
bad sign to see these public servants get on their 
ear about it, and make as if some great outrage 
has been committed against them by asking them 



148 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

to give an account of their stewardship. Now, 
look at the difference in the way these things 
work in the North, as compared to the South. 
In the recent Northern Anniversaries Dr. Nor- 
man Fox said that there had been some criticism 
offered on the American Baptist Publication So- 
ciety. Dr. 0. P. Gilford seconded the resolution 
because he said the Society did not want to con- 
ceal any of its doings from the Baptists. Then 
Dr. Rowland, the secretary of the Publication So- 
ciety, told the brethren that he and all the officers 
would most cordially welcome the committee, ana 
would be glad to have them look into every detail 
of the work and report to the Baptists what they 
might find. The resolution was adopted unani- 
mously. That is the way we love to see officials 
of our Baptist enterprises do. The man whose af- 
fairs are straight, is not afraid to be investigated. 
And he don't pick his crowd to do it, either, for he 
is not afraid to have his work scrutinized. Now 
compare this with the Sunday-school Board of 
Nashville, and the Home Board, of Atlanta. See 
the difference? The Sunday ?school Board would 
not publish the details of their investigation. The 
Flag offered to put the whole thing in print. But 
they would not permit it. While the whole busi- 
ness of the Home Board would resign if you un- 
dertake to investigate their work. Something 
wrong brethren. 



The Christian Advocate claims the time is 
rapidly coming when all. the denominations will 
readily exchange pulpits, and receive certificates 
of membership from each other, and practically 



Editorials. 149 

have no differences between them. We do not 
agree with our neighbor in this roseate view of 
our religious future. We believe our principles 
are too firmly fixed to be set aside. There has 
always been a Christian recognition for other 
people, by the Baptists, and this splendid element 
of charity will always obtain, but Baptists will 
never fraternize with other denominations in 
church ordinances and exchange of membership. 
In the very nature of their faith they can never 
do it, because they regard all other religious bod- 
ies as being unauthorized human institutions, and 
without authority to administer ordinances or 
give church fellowship. In this view the Baptists 
only accord to others a religious standing which 
they admit to be correct, and claim for them- 
selves a standing that no one else can effectually 
deny. How can two walk together unless they 
be agreed? 



There is a useful service that can be ren- 
dered by our State secretaries, but they will not 
be likely to accept our suggestion about it. They 
can become superintendents of mission fields, in- 
stead of mission funds, and render invaluable 
service to the cause. Supose our boards would 
select good, reliable sisters to manage the mis- 
sion funds, answer all letters, and keep all ac- 
counts. They could easily do it, and at merely 
nominal salary. Then let the secretaries devote 
themselves to a cultivation of the destitute fields, 
and become real missionaries, and there will be 
no opposition to the drawing of their salaries 
from mission funds. If the secretaries would go 



150 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

to prominent, destitute fields and canvass the 
ground, see the leading citizens, solicit their aid 
in the establishing of new religious enterprises 
and in the building of Baptist church houses, they 
would be able to do a good service. When a man 
goes as the elected representative of the conven- 
tion, and can assure the citizens who live in 
fields where no Baptist interest is fostered, that 
the denomination is behind him ,and will stand 
by him in the building of churches and support 
of pastors, it will go far toward inspiring confi- 
dence and securing co-operation in the work. Our 
secretaries should cease being secretaries and be- 
come missionaries, doing a general work in the 
general field, and helping the local missionaries 
with their influence and preaching. Our mission 
funds do not need a secretary to manage them, 
but our mission fields do need a missionary to visit 
and take the oversight of them. We suggest that 
every secretary at once turn over the financial 
part of the business to the treasurers, and devote 
themselves to the matter of supplying the desti- 
tution. 



Ouj Cuban missionary, A. J. Diaz, has been 
recently on a visit to New York City. He is try- 
ing to stir up a sentiment in favor of securing 
State aid to the Baptist mission schools in Cuba, 
because the Catholics are receiving State aid for 
their schools, so says the New York Times. In 
this work Brother Diaz is out of his place. Bap- 
tists don't want State aid for any sort of schools, 
nor anything else of a denominational character. 
It has long been a cherished principle of the Bap- 



Editorials. 151 

tists that church and State should remain perpet- 
ually divorced. One of the flagrant outrages of 
the Catholic church is its hold upon the public 
pap, and its persistency to hold on until its greedy 
maw can be filled. At the same time one of the 
glories of the Baptist faith has ever been that it 
repudiates entirely all dependence upon the 
funds of any earthly government for its religious 
work. Brother Diaz had better return to his no- 
ble work of preaching the gospel to the Cubans, 
and manage his schools as best he may without 
the benevolence of the Baptist friends, for it is 
decidedly contrary to Baptist principles to call in 
the State funds to pay for Baptist teaching. It is 
better to do all we can to stop the State aid that 
is going to the Catholics, than to strengthen their 
plea for such aid by sharing with them the spoils. 
Let all Baptists always fight the union of church 
and State ( because it was the mother of the awful 
crimes of the dark ages. 



Soundness in doctrine is made very promin- 
ent in the exhortations of Paul to his sons in the 
gospel, Timothy and Titus. There was then good 
reason for it, because the new doctrines of the 
gospel were likely to be very unpopular, and a 
faithful preacher that would speak them 
boldly was likely to be very much perse- 
cuted. But, since the doctrine of Christ 
was the basis of salvation, and must be 
preached even if it brought persecution, it was 
needful to impress upon the preachers their duty 
to be faithful in preaching it. The same neces- 
sity exists today for the faithful preaching of the 



152 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

doctrines of God's word. Not because the Chris- 
tian religion is unpopular, but because it is so 
popular. The gushy sentiment of the age has 
seized the religion we profess, and Satan has 
changed his tactics. He now proposes to keep 
the doctrine in the background on the plea that 
there is no need for it now. In the former times 
it was kept down because it brought opposition 
and persecution. Now they would keep it back 
because it would desturb the equilibrium and 
good feeling of the good people. But the man 
who faithfully preaches sound doctrine now will 
find that the spirit of persecution has not van- 
ished from the earth even yet. But, we desire to 
say to our young preachers that they should 
preach sound doctrine. The world needs it now, 
as never before. Shun not to declare the whole 
counsel of God. 



We do not all believe in the presiding elder 
business, and in a free country like this we do 
not have to have such folks unless we want to, so 
we have decided we will not enter the slave gang. 



If there is no special call to the work of the 
ministry,, then Paul did not have one. If Paul 
had no such call he deceived us in saying so, and 
if his word is untrue on this how can we believe 
him at all? 



From all quarters comes the word that says 
everybody is noticing the improvement in this 
paper. Well, we started out to make it the best 



Editorials. 153 

in the land, and some of our friends think we 
have succeeded already. 



The brother who braves the sentiment of the 
"leaders" and moves the abolition of the money 
basis of representation from the Convention will 
deserve the thanks of all true Baptists. 



Send out the gospel to earth's remotest 
bounds, but remember that the Lord gave his 
commission to his churches, and it is not your 
prerogative to hinder their work, or usurp their 
authority. 



The Prohibitionists are feeling awful good to 
see the voters of the land walking to the polls 
to vote as they pray. This is practical prohibi- 
tion and is indicative of good for the future. 



The Primitive Baptist, a Hardshell Baptist 
paper, of Martin, Tenn., is shouting happy. We 
have not seen such a spicy breezy, puffy editorial 
in its columns for a long time. The occasion of 
its hilarious feeling is the fact that W. P. Throg- 
morton, who once championed the Baptist cau>«e 
against the Hardshells and proved that Mission- 
ary Baptists were the Primitive Baptists, and the 
Hardshells were a new sect, a schism, a split or 
splinter from the old stock, has become a convert 
to the belief that Hardshell Baptists are true 
Baptists after all, and can administer valid bap- 
tisms and church ordinances. And the editor of 
that paper vigorously and logicallv areues with 
Brother Throgmorton to go to the Hardshells and 



154 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

get valid' baptism, which Brother T. admits they 
can give, and which the Missionary Baptists can- 
not give if we are the schism. In fact Brother 
Throgmorton has surrendered the cause to the 
Hardshells, and logic and reason is on their side. 
If they are valid, gospel churches, we are not, 
for we are ecclesiastically in antagonism with 
them. We are not of one faith, nor of one order. 
Both cannot be true churches of Christ, unless 
truth can be in conflict with itself. There is nei- 
ther doctrinal nor church fellowship between us. 
One or the other is wrong. Since Brother Throg- 
morton concedes they are right, he concedes we 
are wrong, and Brother Cayce does right to in- 
sist on his going where he concedes valid bap- 
tism is found. We do not begin to believe it. 

The most royal institution in this world is 
a Baptist church. Its importance grows out of 
the fact that it is a church of Christ, and its con- 
stitution and purpose is God-ordained. For this 
reason we are jealous of the dignity and rights 
of the Baptist churches. To serve them sincerely 
is to honor their Lord, and this is the highest 
duty of man. 



The tendency to bossism amongst the Bap- 
tists is entirely out of harmony with our recog- 
nized policy. It is also a violation of our Lord's 
specific command. He said we were all brethren, 
and that if any among us would be great let hin 
be made a servant of all. There are to be nr 
lords over the Baptist heritage, for he has for 
bidden it. Let's stand by our orders. 



Editorials. 155 

The Flag does not claim to be a ' 'state pa- 
per," and if we did, it would be hard to tell to 
what state we belonged. The circulation of the 
Flag is just about the same in Missouri, Texas, 
Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, with Illinois 
as a close second. In either of these states we 
have a fine working circulation, if we had none 
in any other. 



Why should any Baptist be afraid to risk the 
churches of Christ in any movement they may 
make for missions? Are they not the Christ-ap- 
pointed custodians of the work? Let the churches 
organize and combine as they desire. This paper 
stands for the right of the churches to do as they 
think best, and we call on all men to keep them- 
selves out of the way. 

There is a difference between a "revival" 
and an "awakening." Christians are revived and 
sinners are awakened'. There can be a revival 
without an awakening and there can be an awak- 
ening without a revival, but generally both go 
together. Neither can be "worked up," but both 
may be called down from God. O, for a great 
revival of Christians and a great awakening of 
sinners. Let us pray for it. 

It appears to be a case made out that Dr. 
Graves was a sure-enough Gospel Missioner in all 
the principles that go to make up that idea. He 
believed we had too much mission machinery, and 
that it was fast involving the worst forms o'f 
episcopacv, and' that we had need to eret back to 
the churches. This is the cry of the Gospel Mis- 



156 Memoir's of Eld. J. N. Hall 

sion brethren today. We are safe when we are 
in control of the churches, under Christ. 



Our best deeds are generally least known. 
That part of the Christian's work which can be 
written is generally least important. God only 
can see the heart and he only can see the little 
deeds done in secret, which are prized most highly 
by men ; but when the records are fully made up 
many who have had most credit with men will be 
least in the estimation of God. 

Let. us all make this the greatest year of our 
life for the Lord's work. We may not be kept here 
many years longer, and we need to make our rec- 
ord while we can make it to the best account. 

The Flag believes the commission was given 
to the churches, and should be executed by them. 
We believe that these churches in a given locality 
may co-oprate together in sending out mission- 
aries by organizing associations for that purpose, 
if they so desire. But we do not believe these 
associations have any right to co-operate and or- 
ganize still another association, that will not in 
any sense be under the control of the churches, 
and place the commission in the hands of this 
larger and more pretentious organization. The 
Southern Baptist Convention is that sort of an 
organization. It is made up of the delegates elect- 
ed from associations, and appointed by the State 
boards, and our churches, as such, have neither 
a representative nor a vo'ce in its affairs. Such 
a body is manifestly formed on an un-Baptistic 
basis and needs to have its constitution thor- 
oughly revised. If the churches of the South de- 



Editorials. 157 

sire such an organization, and will send messen- 
gers to organize such, then that organization will 
be valid to the extent that it is under the control 
of these churches. But as it now stands the 
churches have absolutely nothing to do with it 
except to pay the bill of expense as they may be 
called upon, or else be read out of the denomina- 
tion as being opposed to the "organized work." 



The Baptist News says the Flag editor is a 
little cranky of late — sometimes favoring boards, 
and sometimes opposing them. But we beg to say 
to our esteemed brother that we have had that 
position from the beginning. We have always 
favored a subservient convention and board. We 
have not changed one whit from that position, 
and never expect to. Most of our boards now are 
uncompromisingly opposed to that sort. When- 
ever we find one of the other sort we shall heart- 
ily commend it. 



The policy of this paper is to stand unflinch- 
ingly for sound Baptist principles. We will cheer- 
fully yield to the will of a majority where a mere 
policy or expedient is involved. But when a cher- 
ished principle or doctrine is involved we will 
not give an inch from what we believe to be right. 



The beauty of our Baptist faith is that we 
are in a safe condition whether we are right or 
not. Everybody agrees that our church organi- 
zation, our baptism, our communion, our con- 
versions are all valid', even allowing others to b° 
judges. If anybody is right we are right, and if 



158 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

all others are wrong we are still right. It is a 
grand thing to be a Baptist. 

A Landmark Baptist is the consistent Bap- 
tist. He feels that he has something to live for, 
and he commends it to others. Such Baptists are 
invaluable in the service they render to the Lord. 

Freedom does not always make a man true, 
but truth, genuine truth, always makes a man 
free. Let him that loves freedom seek truth. 



Error is always an enslaving bondage. Her 
children blindly serve because liberality can never 
be anything to them but a dream. To break er- 
ror's chains and give freedom to her slaves is the 
noblest work of man. 

There is no record in God's word that tells of 
any General Missionary Convention to evangelize 
the world. That work in the Apostolic age was 
done by the churches, just as it should be done 
now. 



It is pleasant to remember that our Baptist 
faith has come from the fountain of truth, and 
will abide with us forever. We do not need com- 
mittees on revision for infallible perfection was 
grafted into the divine record from the start. 



We have an impression that there is no im- 
propriety in having things equalized in religious 
matters. Recently we heard a financial secretary 
who receives his eighteen hundred or two thous- 
and dollars a year, and all expenses paid, tell of a 



Editorials. 15.) 

poor servant girl who works at fifty dollars a 
year, and whose heart was moved with love for 
lost sinners that she gave five dollars of her earn- 
ings to aid the secretary in his work. He told 
this as an incentive to induce others to give; but 
we couldn't help saying it would be more becom- 
ing in the high salaried official to give to the poor 
girl. 



Don't forget to give your thought, prayer and 
cash to the cause of his missions. It is worthy of 
all, and the Lord has assigned this to us as our 
work. 



There are seven points of Baptist faith 
wherein they differ from all other religious de- 
nominations, but the reception of alien baptism is 
the key to all. 



The most absurd claim that is now made by 
any religious people is made by the Episcopalians. 
They claim to have a succession of bishops back 
to the age of the apostles, when the merest tyro 
in historical lore knows the whole Episcopal busi- 
ness originated in the 16th century. "The height 
of presumption" would be a mild designation for 
such nonsense. 



In this time of looseness of doctrine there is 
great need for unflinching fidelity to the truth. 
The preachers of today have on their shoulders a 
grave responsibility, because they are the divinely 
appointed watchmen on the walls of Zion, and we 
expected to be faithful in sounding the alarm ot 



160 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

danger. The truth has enemies that are strong 
and treacherous. Let us all watch. 



An association is nothing more than a con- 
ference of appointed messengers to confer to- 
gether about things that are best for the growth 
of the Kingdom of Christ. An association has no 
power at all over the churches, and can do noth- 
ing more than confer, and advise. The churches 
themselves are the executives of the work Christ 
assigned them, and no human society has any 
right to usurp authority over them or interfere 
with their work. 



God bless our young preachers. We know 
quite a number of young men who are full of pro- 
mise for future service. They are in our colleges, 
and are devoting themselves to their calling with 
a remarkable measure of self sacrifice and hard 
labor. Some of them are not in college, being un- 
able to go to school, but are hard at work for the 
Lord. The future will hear from them, for their 
labor will not be in vain. Heaven's richest bless- 
ings on our young preachers. 



A faithful defense of our Lord's churches 
and their divinely revealed doctrines is the great 
need of our age. In the trend' toward liberalism 
we have left our moorings, and the mad rush for 
societies has left the churches of Christ almost 
stranded. Our churches are but little more than 
mere pegs in the wall on which the societies can 
be hung for their convenience. But we believe 
the churches of Christ are adapted to the Lord's 



Editorials. 161 

work in all its phases, and the multiplication of 
these human societies is nothing more than a 
weakening process to destroy church strength. 



It is said that after the new pope was elected 
lie was placed in the papal chair and the triple 
crown was placed on his head, and the cardinals 
who had elected him passed in procession by him 
and each one kissed his hands and feet. Such ab- 
ject abasement of one's manhood is characteristic 
of Romanism. What other system of religion, 
even though it be heathenism, would ever require 
one man to kiss another's feet? It is nauseating 
to think about it. 



It is sometimes intimated that Gospel Mis- 
sion people are opposed to "organized work," 
meaning by that expression to say we are opposed 
to co-operative work, on a well defined system. 
This charge is not well founded. In fact, it is 
untrue. We believe Gospel Missions has the true 
idea of co-operative work. Our fathers, who 
were the brush-breakers of this country, used to 
have log-rollings, and barn-raisings. To roll the 
logs, and raise the barns was more than an any 
ordinary family could well do within themselves. 
So the neighbors would be invited in to help do 
the work. That was co-operation. Onlv enough 
neighbors would be invited to b^In with the work 
efficiently. To get more hands than were needed 
would be to weaken the force. They would be in 
each other's wav. "But just enough to make the 
work easy, a^d yet have something for each man 
to do, was the way to do the work well. So it is 



162 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

with Gospel Missions. One church may not be 
able to send out a missionary. In that case let her 
call on neighboring churches until enough of 
them have been secured to make the task easy, 
and yet every one have something to do. That is 
real co-operation. But it should stop with the 
support of that missionary. Now let others com- 
bine to send out another, and so on, until there 
will be ten-thousand co-operations, and ten-thou- 
sand missionaries, and every church in the land' 
will be doing a part of the work. That is "organ- 
ized work" right. 



Is it a crime to believe every word the Lord 
said? Will all He said prove true? If so, then 
these words will prove true : "On this rock I will 
build my church, and the gates of hell shall not 
prevail against it." These words are simple, 
straight, full of meaning and divine. Jesus did 
build a church. It was founded on a rock. The 
powers of hell have always opposed it. But he 
said they should not prevail against it. If that 
prophesy is untrue, then Christ is untrue. The is- 
sue involved in the existence of the church of 
Christ in all ages of the world is such as to settle 
the question of the truth or falsity of Christ's 
words. When a man says the church that Christ 
built has failed from the earth, he thereby 
charges Christ with a false statement in saying 
the "gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 
It has come to a pretty pass that we can find a 
professed Christian who will make such a charge 
against Jesus Christ — fer no other reason than to 
bolster up his poor human theory. For our part 



Editorials. 163 

we believe Christ spoke the truth. We believe 
His church now exists, and has always done so. 
Sin and Satan do oppose, and have always op- 
posed, but they cannot prevail against the churcn. 



Let us be very candid in our reflections about 
this modern union revival craze that has been 
sweeping over the country. If it is a good thing 
we very much desire to avoid throwing any hin- 
drance in its way. We are decidedly in favor of 
any enterprise that we are sure will have the di- 
vine approval, and advance the glory of Christ, 
and make his cause to advance more rapidly. But 
in all candor we must say our present impression 
is not favorable to the union meeting idea. In 
our judgment the price paid for the service is en- 
tirely too much, and it can never be a profitable 
investment. Let us consider a few things : 

1. A union meeting always supposes an 
agreement to leave in the background such doc- 
trines of the Bible as are supposed to be unpalata- 
ble to any of those who are in the meeting. This 
compromise of the truth is altogether dishonorable 
to our Lord', and without authority on our part. 
What right have we to agree to suppress a part of 
the truth He gave us to preach to the people? 

2. A union meeting is a confession that all 
churches are equal in point of gospel preaching 
and authority, and that they can therefore unite 
on terms of perfect equality. That means that a 
church of Christ is no better than a church made 
by man. Such a reflection is a sin. 

3. There is no reason why any number of 
churches that may unite in perfect equality for 



164 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

two weeks should not unite on the same terms fo": 
all the time. There is just as much of principle 
involved. There is no more sin to unite for all 
time than it is for a day or a month. 

4. There is a species of insincerity and hy- 
pocrisy involved in a union meeting. Those who 
lead pretend to a union that is not real. The peo- 
ple really differ and as soon as the union meeting 
is over they will go back to the old fight they have 
had all the time. The world may think that the 
differences have been merged, or surrendered, 
but it is a deception. The union is a mere pre- 
tense, and these mere pretences are wicked in 
God's sight. 

5. People who are in the union meeting are 
the very ones who ought to hear what God has to 
say on the very doctrines that have been set aside 
for the sake of the union. The true preacher tries 
to so adapt his preaching to his crowd as to say 
the things they need to hear, while they are pres- 
ent. But no such consideration ever enters into 
a union meeting, for it would be out of place to 
say such things. 

6. No preacher can be true to his own be- 
liefs, if he has any, and be in a union meeting. 
The text he takes may call for a faithful proclam- 
ation of some of the very doctrines that have 
been set aside, and he cannot be faithful in 
refusing to declare those doctrines. 

7. A union meeting goes on the presump- 
tion that some of the offensive doctrines of the 
Bible are not good for the conversion of men, 
and' should therefore be left out. But all Scrip- 
ture is profitable for doctrine, and for practice, 



Editorials. 16 > 

and Paul said to Timothy, Take heed to the doc- 
trine, for in so doing thou shalt save thyself and 
them that are near thee." 

8. Union meetings proceed on the popular 
idea that there is great need for people to get 
into the church in order to get a blessing. Churc. 
salvation is a leading heresy in the whole busi- 
ness. This is dangerous to the souls of men. 

9. Union meetings also impress the people 
that religious denominations are wrong, and a 
hindrance to the conversion of the people. This 
is untrue. If this were true then Jesus made a 
mistake in establishing the sect that is every- 
where spoken against, even in union meetings. 

10. The whole business is ol the devil. It 
is a compromise with error, at the expense of 
truth. It is a reflection on those who are faith- 
ful, and puts a premium on those who oppose the 
truth. We are decidedly opposed to the whola 
thing, and do not believe its work is of any value 
at any point. Excuse us altogether when you 
start your union meeting, for we do not propose 
to be mixed up in the ungodly affair. 



Sound doctrine that cannot be condemned is 
what the people greatly need. See that thy get it. 



On general principles we can truly say we 
like the Southern Baptist Convention. We like its 
social reunions; its cordial handshakes; its fine 
speeches; its superb attendance of the choicest 
spirits in our land. We like its enthusiasm; its 
rush of business; its optimism; its happy retro- 
spection of the achievements of the past; its an- 



166 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

ticipation of the future. There are many things 
about the Convention that we like. But we do not 
like the money basis of the Convention. In our 
estimation this is the fly into the ointment, and 
should be eliminated at the next session of the 
body. We believe it is based on the commercial 
spirit, and makes mammon king. In our view the 
spirit of brotherly fraternity is far more valuable 
than the spirit of commercialism. We believe 
that a Baptist church has a right to representa- 
tion in a Baptist Convention simply because it is 
a Baptist church, and not because it has paid out 
a specified sum of money. We do not oppose the 
paying of money to our denominationl enterprises 
by all of our churches, and we do believe in the 
idea of making the churches who pay the most mon- 
ey, the most honorable There are nobler qualities 
than the paying of money. To have a church 
with a broad view of its obligations to the world, 
and with spiritual power over men, and with 
power in prayer before God, and that is sound in 
the doctrines of the word, is much better than to 
have a church that is rich in its gifts of money 
but that comes short on these nobler qualities. 
But it would make no difference with the South- 
ern Baptist Convention how efficient and spiritual 
a church might be, it could not be represented in 
that body unless it would pay in $250.00 for the 
use of the boards of the Convention. Churches 
represent by their money, not by their piety, 
spiritality or soundness in the faith. This is ut- 
terly a perversion of our Baptist sentiment and 
polity. We ought to be alarmed about it, and 
abolish the sentiment entirely. The value of a 



Editorials. 167 

man's property cuts no figure in determining the 
value of his life. So it is also with a church. 
Soundness in faith and practice is of far greater 
value than the giving of money. So let us abolish 
the money basis and unite every Baptist church 
in the South to send messengers. 



Be sure your church gives some mission 
money this year, and for fear others do not give, 
you put in a good contribution yourself. 



Never allow your opposition to a method of 
work to prejudice you against the work itself. 
Pursue it on a proper method. 



Correct your brother's faults if you can, but 
don't forget that you have some of your own that 
need attention. 



When you hear a street preacher denouncing 
all the churches you may put it down that his is 
a religious guerilla. 



There is not much in "luck," but there is a 
good deal in pluck. If you want a thing done roll 
up your sleeves and do it. 



Some people know so little about Baptists 
and Campbellites that they think the two denom- 
inations are alike because they both immerse. 
What gross ignorance. 



The time seems to be upon us when the de- 
nominations around us have decided to hold up 



168 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

their criticisms of Baptists on the communion 
question. We have conquered a peace. . 

If our Lord had wanted us to have a religious 
boss and an Episcopal bishop, he would have left 
us an example of it. But he didn't. 



This is a perilous time for true men to be at 
ease in Zion, but there are many who are sleeping 
on their oars in the midst of a storm. 



The mission sentiment is growing more and 
more to be after the gospel Mission pattern. The 
common Baptist heart will not submit to bosses. 



Our churches don't have to give their mis- 
sion money through the organized agencies unless 
they want to. They are free to give as they 
please. 



The lost world should appeal with great 
power to our sympathy and liberality, and as 
rapidly as is possible we should send them the 
gospel of Christ. 



It Is real nice to be able to leave a rich legacy 
to some great enterprise when you die, but it is 
really more satisfactory, we imagine, to be able 
to render aid while we live. 



Certainly, we should send the gospel mes- 
sage to every creature. That is our Lord's com- 
mand, and everybody that has received in his 
own heart the blessed fruit of the gospel should 



Editorials. 169 

seek to have others to share a like blessing 
Send out the gracious word of truth all along the 
line. 



Baptists do not need to go from home to get 
washing done, for they are able to do their own 
baptizing. This alien immersion business is just 
a way of hiring our washing done. 



Get rich quick business movements, and get 
wise quick schools, are both alike, of doubtful 
utility. Those who depend upon them will find 
that they stand on uncertain ground, both in 
business and education. 



If all the man made churches in the land 
would as frankly and proudly recognize their 
founders as the Christian Scientists do Mrs. Eddy, 
it would not be hard to locate them. But most of 
them are ashamed to do it. 



Do you know what we call "Frenzied Fi- 
nance?" It is the freak of foolishness that causes 
a man to order his religious paper stopped on the 
plea that he is not able to pay for it while he uses 
tobacco and an occasional drink of liquor. There 
are such men in the land. 

The boards ought to agree to recognize the 
missionaries sent out by the churches as being 
missionaries in fact, if they want the churches to 
recognize the Board missionaries as all right. 
Both should have mutual recognition. 



170 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

Why should there be any lack of zeal in your 
attendance on religious duties, brother? Is it not 
a fact that there is a great gain to you in the ser- 
vices of the Lord's house? Is religion a vain 
thing in your estimation ? Let your pastor and the 
brethren see that you are in great earnest in your 
work. The Lord will reward you. 



Is your wife or husband, a member of some 
other than a Baptist church? Would you like to 
have your companion in a Baptist church with 
you? Well, you can secure your cherished object 
by kind treatment, good Baptist literature, a 
sweet spirited discussion of your points of issue, 
and a mutual reading of the Bible together. 
Don't make your companion miserable by nagging 
and quarreling, but win him, or her, by persuas- 
ion, kindness and truth. 



In cur estimation there is no room for a 
reasonable doubt as to the correctness of the 
claim made by the Baptists that their churches 
are the true, visible churches of Christ on earth. 
They have the distinct, Scriptural marks of iden- 
tity, and have the history that will make good 
their contention. They look with a large measure 
of satisfaction upon a history that can be traced 
through the wilderness of the dark ages, and that 
shines with a heavenly halo of brightness that 
compels even our enemies to write the record of 
the piety and faithfulness of our fathers. While 
other denominations are obliged to confess a mod- 
ern and human origin, or else connect themselves 
with the corrupt apostacy of Rome, the Baptists 



Editorials. 171 

can stand on the word of the Lord as a sure foun- 
dation and hear their head and founder say, "On 
this rock I will build my church, and the gates of 
hell shall not prevail against it." There is great 
consolation in knowing the words of Christ have 
proven true. He did build his church on a rock, 
and the storms and floods of bitter persecution 
and blood have been unable to destroy it. It 
stands today, and is represented in its primitive 
purity by the Baptist churches of this day, for 
they are the churches of Christ, and are still on 
the rock. 

The Flag has no sympathy with that patron- 
izing spirit of the age that feels constrained to 
make apologies to every one we meet for being a 
Baptist. We believe the Lord was a Baptist, and 
that his commission was given to the Baptists, 
and they owe no one any apologies for following 
after their royal example, and keeping his im- 
perative commandments. The rather we should 
be proud of our Baptist faith, and without hesi- 
tation we should preach our doctrines. The Lord 
loved the Baptist church at Ephesus well enough 
to die for it; and it would be a shame for that 
church to now be ashamed of the cause for which 
their Lord died'. Thank God for the privilege of 
standing for the glorious and divine principles of 
the Baptists. 



The millenium will be on hand when the ave- 
rage politician gets so he will vote for the moral 
side of a political question. 



172 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

One of the proofs of the divinity of the gos- 
pel of Christ is in the fact that it does not take 
what the world calls a wise man to move the pea- 
pie with a pathos and power to which human elo- 
quence is a stranger. 



Is it wrong to be a real Baptist, if you are 
going to be a Baptist at all? We are of the opin- 
ion that this is the thing to do, and for that rea- 
son we stand pat on Baptist ground, and make no 
apoligies to any one. 



There are not enough preachers of the right 
sort, but there are too many of the other sort. 



A faithful defense of our Lord's churches 
and their divinely revealed doctrines is the great 
need of our age. In the trend toward liberalism 
we have left our moorings. 



What is it to be a Christian? Some people 
think that it is only necessary to join the church 
and be baptized to be a Christian. Others that 
they will be Christians if they can succeed in 
getting some sort of a strange or far away "feel- 
ing." But on may have all of these and not be a 
Christian. To be a Christian is to trust in Christ 
for salvation. To trust any one's goodness or to 
trust a "feeling" is to be deceived. To look away 
from self to Christ is to be saved. 



A convention with a money basis is not after 
the apostolic pattern. 



Editorials. 173 

Free speech is not considered proper unless you 
use it in the interest of the powers that be. 

Persecution is frequently retroactive and the 
enterprise you seek to hurt by it is benefited. 



Modern holiness is a sort of fad. It is short 
lived and absurd. It is so impractical, unreal, un- 
true and unscriptural that it is a wonder that any 
one has ever been ensnared by it. 

A reading people may be counted on for an 
intelligent appreciation of every good work. The 
church member that don't read is not apt to be 
generous or hearty in the support of any public 
matters. Be readers. 



ONE MORE IN HEAVEN. 



"One less at home! 
The charming circle broken — a dear face 
Missed day by day from its accustomed place, 
But, cleansed and saved, and perfected by grace; 

One more in heaven! 

"One less at home! 
One voice of welcome hushed, and evermore 
One farewell word unspoken; on the shore 
Where tparting comes not, one soul landed more — 

One more in heaven! 

"One less at home! 
A sense of loss that meets us at the gate; 
Within, a place unfilled and desolate; 
And far away, our coming to await, 

One more in heaven! 

"One less at home! 
Chill as the earth-born mist the thought would rise r 
And wrap the footsteps round and dim the eyes; 
But the bright sunbeam darteth from the skies — 

One more in heaven! 



174 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 



"One less at home! 
This is not home, where cramped in eartnly mold, 
Our sight of Christ is dim, our love is cold; 
But there where face to face we shall behold 

Is home and heaven! 

"•One less on earth! 
Its pains, its sorrows, and its toils to share; 
One less the pilgrim's daily cross to bear; 
One more the crown of ransomed souls to wear, 

At home in heaven! 

"One more in heaven! 
Another thought to lighten cloudy days, 
Another theme for thankfulness and praise, 
Another link our souls on high to raise 

To home and heaven! 

"One more at home — 
That home where none are missed eternally. 
That home where separation cannot be, 
Lord Jesi*s, grant us all a place with Thee, 

At home in heaven! " 



IN MEMORY OF BRO. J. N. HALL. 



A mighty man — a man of God, 
Has passed from earthly care; 

And on the path that he has trod, 
God's light shines wondrous fair. 

We would not question Thee, our King, 
Through falling tears we say, 

"Thy will be done," and humbly cling 
To Thee on this sad day. 

I knew him from my childhood days, 
And lov'd him all the years, 

And I would add my meed of praise, 
My offering of tears. 

He was a preacher, matchless, grand, 
Who humbly walked with God; 

With truth and right he took his stand, 
Though rough the path he trod. 

For many could not understand 
How he could chide the sin 



In Memory of Bro. J. N. Hall. 175 



That lies about on every hand, 
Yet kept serene within. 

Within his heart was kindly cheer, 

Nor anger marred his soul, 
Yet he knew naught of coward fear, 

As he pressed to the goal. 

Oh! he was brave to fight the wrong, 

And daring for the right; 
His love was deep, his faith was strong, 

He labored with his might. 

He did not stop to praise or blame, 

If duty led the way, 
For he could march through flood and flame, 

With God for strength and stay! 

Now he has gone, the years shall tell, 

His life was not in vain, 
And we shall see that ic v/as well, 

And such lives are our gain. 

Soldier of God, now rest in peace! 

Thy warfare all is o'er, 
God took thee home where sorrows cease, 

And thou shalt toil no more! 

Thou'rt now at rest — that blessed rest 

That God alone can give, 
Of sweetest comfort on His breast, 

With Him to ever live! 

Thy lov'd ones gone before shall dwell, 

With thee forever more, 
And with thy lov'd ones thou shalt dwell 

On Canaan's happy shore! 

And in eternity alone 

The good that thou hast done, 
Shall be revealed before God's throne, 

When thou thy crown hast won! 

— Emma Tharp Hale. 



CHAPTER IX. 

FOOTPRINTS OF THE BAPTISTS 

HISTORIC EVIDENCES SHOWING THAT THE BAPTISTS 
HAVE THE SUCCESSION. 

. "The rock" is not that against which the 
unseen is not to prevail; neither has the church 
ever become extinct." — M. E. Lard, Quarterly for 
1866, p. 809. 

• 2. We rejoice to know that for more than 
1800 years this kingdom has stood as a city on a 
hill with doors open to all that would enter the 
fold of Christ." — Isaac Errett, Searching the 
Scriptures, p. 95. 

3. "The church was built on a rock laid in 
Zion ; and she has stood the rough waves of eigh- 
teen centuries, and will finally triumph over the 
principalities and powers of the earth." — Talbot 
Lanning in Living Pulpit, p. 52. 

4. "A community not founded at the right 
time, is not the kingdom of Christ. Popery was 
inaugurated too late by at least two centuries to 
be the true and genuine church. If Popery was 
born too late, or is too young to be the true church, 
what shall be said of those communities born in 
the last three centuries?" — Benjamin Franklin, in 
Living Pulpit, p. 343. 

5. Alexander Campbell says: "That there 



Footprints of the Baptists. Ill 

are some worthy Baptists exactly accords with the 
views of some of the brethren long since ex- 
pressed — that it was witn the Jews, in the times 
of the Messiah and the apostles, so it is now with 
tne Baptists. The nation, as such, continued to 
be the kingdom of God until they rejected the of- 
fered salvation; so the present kingdom of God 
was found among those who plead for admission 
into the kingdom of grace, until the present call 
upon them for reformation. Since the rejection 
of that call by them, as a people, or so far as any 
of them have opposed this reformation, they are 
not of the kingdom of God." Millenial Harbinger, 
pp. 57,58. 

6. Mr. Burnett, editor of the Christian Mes- 
senger, Bonham, Texas, says: "Christ founded 
his church on a rock, and it has been there ever 
since. In the days of Alexander Campbell it was 
wearing the name "Baptist Church," with Alex- 
ander Campbell, we say the kingdom was with 
the Baptists before he and his co-agitators started 
the reformation." Quoted by Baptist Flag, Feb- 
ruary, 1883. 

7. There were Baptists in all ages that 
never acknowledged the Mother of Harlots." — A. 
Campbell, in Campbell-McCalla Debate. 

8. "The church at Jerusalem was a Bap- 
tist church, and the church at Samaria was a 
Baptist church." — Campbell-McCalla Debate, 
p. 377. 

9. "From the apostolic age to the present 
time, the sentiments of Baptists, and their prac- 
tice of baptism, have had a continual chain of ad- 
vocates and public monuments of their existence 



178 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

-in every century can be produced." — Campbefl- 
McCalla Debate, p. 378. 

10. "We can show that from the earliest 
times there has existed a people whom no man can 
number, that have earnestly and consistently con- 
tended for the faith once delivered to the saints." 
— Campbell-Percell Debate, p. 65. 

11. We have now seen that the Baptists, 
who were formerly called Anabaptists, and in 
later times Menonites, were the original Walden- 
ses; and who have long in the history of the 
church, received the honor of that origin. On this 
account the Baptists may be considered as the 
only Christian community which has stood since 
the days of the apostles, and as a Christian so- 
ciety that has preserved pure the doctrines of the 
gospel through all ages. The perfectly correct 
internal and external economy of the Baptist de- 
nomination tends to confirm the truth which is 
disputed by the Romish church that the reforma- 
tion brought in the sixteenth century and at the 
same time goes to refute the erroneous notion of 
the Catholics, that their communion is the most 
ancient." — Drs. Ypeig and Dermout, Profs, of 
theology in the University Groningen, and minis- 
ters of the Dutch Reformed Church of Holland. 
Encyclopedia Rel. Knowledge, p. 796. 

13. "The true origin of the sect that ac- 
uired the denomination of AnaBaptists by their 
administering anew the rite of baptism to those 
who came over to their communion, and derived 
that of Menonites from the famous man to whom 
they owe the greater part of their present felicity, 
is hidden in the depths of antiquity, and is, of con- 



Footprints of the Baptists. 179 

sequence, extremely difficult to be ascertained." — 
Mosheim's Church History, p. 490. 

14. The institution of Anabaptists is no 
novelty, but for thirteen hundred years has caused 
great disturbance in the church, and has acquired 
such a strength that the attempt in this age to 
contend with it appeared futile for a time." Z an- 
gle, the Swiss reformer, contemporary with Ivi- 
ther. 

15. "If the truth of religion were to be 
judged of by the readiness and cheerfulness which 
a man of any sect shows in suffering, then opin- 
ion and persuasion of no sect can be truer and 
surer than that of Anabaptists (Baptists) since 
there has been none for these twelve hundred 
years past that have been more generally punished 
or that have more cheerfully and steadfastly un- 
dergone, and even offered themselves, to the most 
cruel sorts of punishment, than these people." — 
Cardinal Hosius, prsident of the Council of Trent* 
(a Catholic). 

16. "The Anabaptists are a pestilential 
sect, of which kind the Waldensian Brethren seem 
to have been. Nor is this heresy a modern thing, 
for it existed in the time of Austin." A. D. 354. 
— Rees' Reply to Wall, p. 20. 

17. "The visible church consisted of the or- 
ganized believers in Christ, and the followers of 
his life. General history reveals the constant su- 
perintending providence . . . while in secular 
history the spiritual forces lay largely in the back- 
ground, in the life of the church they have come 
boldly into the clear foreground. Though often 
wrong, and divided in opinion, the church has 



180 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

been saved from fatal error and downfall by di- 
vine interposition." — John P. Hurst, in Short 
History of First Church, by the Chautauqua Com- 
mittee, 1887, p. 1. 

18. "It may be observed in the first place, 
that the Mennonites (Anabaptists, as he called 
them) are not entirely in error when they boast 
of their descent from the Waldenses, Petrobru- 
sians, and other ancient sects, who are usually 
considered witnesses of the truth in times of gen- 
eral darkness and superstition. Before the rise 
of Luther and Calvin, there lay concealed in al- 
most all the countries of Europe, particularly in 
Bohemia, Moravia, Switzerland and Germany, 
many persons who adhered tenaciously to the fol- 
lowing doctrine, which the Waldenses, Hussites, 
have maintained, some in a more disquised, others 
in a more open and public manner, viz : That the 
kingdom of Christ, or the visible church which he 
established on earth, was an assembly of true and 
real saints, and ought, therefore, to be inaccessible 
to the wicked and unrighteous, and also exempt 
from 1 those institutions which human prudence 
suggests to oppose the progress of iniquity, or to 
correct and reform transgressors. 

"This maxim is the true source of all the pe- 
culiarities that are to be found in the religious 
doctrine and discipline of the Mennonites; and it 
is most certain that the greatest part of these 
peculiarities were approved by many of those 
who, before the dawn of the reformation, enter- 
tained the notion already mentioned, relating to 
the visible church of Christ." — Mosheim's Church 
History, p. 491. 



Footprints of the Baptists. 181 

The Waldenses are shown to have an exist- 
ence that dates as far back as the year 700. — Ben- 
edict, p. 53. 

Benedict shows that the Waldenses of the 
thirteenth century, pp. 68, 74, 78, 61. 

In 1192 the Waldenses said that baptism does 
not benefit the infants. — Ermengard, as quoted by 
Amitage. p. 303. 

In 1202, the Waldenses said that baptism 
avails nothing before the years of discretion are 
reached, and infants are not profited by it. — 
Alanus, in Armtage, p. 303. 

In 1092, Dr. Wall says that the Baptists of 
Cologne came from Dauphine. — Armitage, p. 302. 

In 1050 Baptists emigrated to England in 
large numbers, from France, Germany and Hol- 
land. — Benedict, p. 305. 

In 1139 a company of Baptists came to Eng- 
land from Gascoyne, where William Newberry, a 
monkish historian says : "They were as numerous 
as the sands of the sea." — Benedict, p. 305. 

In 1035, the Bogomills are claimed as Bap- 
tists, and a recent book from the press of the 
American Baptist Publication Society shows that 
they were of the pure stock of Baptists. They 
were abundant in Orleans in 1025, and in the 
Netherlands in 1035, and in Turin in 1051. They 
were condemned by the Catholics in Toulouse in 
1119, and in Tours in 1163. They held a coucil of 
their own in 1167. — Armitage, p. 278. 

In 1116, Henry, who was a bold Baptist, 
asked permission to preach in the city of Mans, 
and got it. His preaching was so powerful that 
he came near turning the whole city to him, and 



182 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

the bishop had to order him to quit the place. — Ar- 
mitage, p. 289. 

In 1523, Reublin held a debate in Zurich on 
the subject of infant baptism. Reublin was a 
leadng Baptist. Zuingle said that nothing cost 
him so much sweat as his controversy with the 
Baptists. — Armitage, pp. 330, 334. ' 

In 1526, Brodlie and Reublin, baptized the 
whole reform congregation at Hallam. — Armitage 
p. 348. 

In 1200, a company of Baptists held a de- 
bate in Oxford, contending against the popish 
clergy. — Benedict, p. 279. 

In 1590 Baptists had to leave the public as- 
semblies in England, and go to the woods and in 
stables, barns and hay lofts to worship. — Enoch 
Clapham, a writer of that period. — Cramp, p. 286. 

In 1684, John Emblem, from England, be- 
came pastor in Boston. 

In 1711, John Burrows came from the west 
of England, and settled in Virginia. He spent 
about thirty years in the ministry. 

In 1727 Richard Jones, a Baptist preacher 
from England, settled in Virginia. He labored in 
the same field that had been cultivated by Rob- 
ert Nora in, who had preceded him as the pioneer 
Baptist of the Old Dominion. 

In 1714 Robert Nordin was ordained as a 
Baptist minister in London, and immediately 
sailed for America and settled in Virginia; and 
on his arrival organized a church at Burley, in 
Isle of Wight County, which was the first Bap- 



Footprints of the Baptists. 183 

tist church in Virginia. Members emigrating 
from this church, spread the cause of truth in 
North Carolina, and in a short time sixteen 
churches were organized. — Baptist Succession, 
pp. 66, 68, 69. 



CHAPTER X. 

SECURITY OF THE BELIEVER. 

1. There are two classes of believers, the 
nominal and the real. For the nominal I affirm 
nothing. For the real, I affirm a divine security., 

2. The true child of God is born of God. 
"That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." John 
3:6. They are "born, not of corruptible seed, but 
of incorruptible." 1. Pet. 1 :23. He that is born 
of God doth not commit sin." 1. John 3:9. 

3. There is only one spiritual birth. 1 Pet. 
1:23. "Liveth and abideth forever." 

There is but one spiritual death. Rom. 6:6- 
11. "He that is dead is freed from sin." There 
is but cne spiritual resurrection. Eph. 2:1-6. 
"You hath he quickened." 

4. By this new birth the child of God par- 
takes of the divine nature. 2 Peter, 1:4, "par- 
takers of the divine nature." 

5. The believer is sealed to the day of re- 
demvtion. Eph. 1:13. "Sealed with the Holy 
Spirit of promise, until the redemption of the pur- 
chased possession." Eph. 4:30. "Sealed unto the 
day of redemption." 2. Cor. 1 :22. "Who hath 
also sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit 
in our hearts." 

6. Who shall separate them from Christ"? 



Security of the Believer. 180 

The Spirit bears witness — heirs of God — 
"The wicked one shall not touch them." 1. Jno, 
5:18. Then Satan cannot do it. "Sin shall not 
have domination." Rom. 6 :14. The world cannot 
do it. "Whatsoever .is born of God overcometh 
the world." 1. Jno. 5 :4. The law cannot do it. 
The believer is free from the law of sin and death. 
Rom. 8:1. He is "not under the law but under 
grace." Rom. 6:14. Persecutions cannot do it. 
"For thy sake we are killed all the day long." 
Rom. 8:36. Can the believer himself do it? "1 
will put my fear in their hearts and they shall not 
depart from me." Jer. 32 :40. 

7. The covenant between Father and Son 
secures them. 

"I will make him my first born," ps. 89:19. 
27, 34. • "Higher than the kings of the earth etc." 

8. The covenant between God and his people 
secures them. 

"I will make a new covenant with them/' 
Jer. 31:31. "They shall not depart from me." 
Jer. 32 :40. 

9. God makes oath to them. "As I have 
sworn to Noah." Isa. 54:7-10. "It is impossible 
for God to lie." "Hope sure and steadfast." Heb. 
6:13-20. 

10. Christ calls them his sheep, and gives 
them eternal life, and says : "A stranger they will 
not follow" and no one is able to pluck them out of 
the Father's hand. 

"My sheep hear my voice etc." Jno. 10:9, 11: 
27-30. Compare ps. 23, Luke, 15:46, and 1. Sam. 
17:34-35. 

11. The true believer has eternal life. 



186 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

"Shall not perish but have eternal life. Jno. 3 :14^ 
"The gift of God is eternal life." Rom. 6 :23. 
"That ye may know ye have eternal life."' 

1. Jno. 5:13. 

"And this is life eternal, that they might 

know thee." Jno. 17:3. 

12. The relation as God's child sustains him, 
joint heirs with Christ. Rom. 8:16, etc. 

"I in them, thou in me, that they may be per- 
fect in one." Jno. 17 :22. 

13. Christ their surety. 

"Jesus surety of a better covenant, ever liveth 
to make intercession for us." Heb. 7 :22-25. "If 
any man sin, we have an advocate with the 
Father." 1. Jno. 2:1. 

14. God's promises to give them security. 
"Your life is hid with Christ in God, and ye 

shall appear with him in glory." Col: 3:3. 

"No weapon formed against thee shall pros- 
per." Is. 54:17. 

"Shall not come unto condemnation " Jno. 
5:24. 

"Mary hath the good part that shall never be 
taken away from her." Luke, 10:41. 

15. God will never forsake them. 

"I will be with you always even to the end." 
Matt. 28:20. 

"I will send another comforter to abide with 
you forever." Jno. 14: 16. 

"Passing through waters and fire, they shall 
not hurt thee." Is. 43:2. 

"I will not turn away from him to do him 
good." Jer. 32:46. 



Security of the Believer. 187 

"The Lord will preserve thee forever." Psa. 
12:14. 

"He preserveth the souls of his saints." Psa. 
97:10. 

"Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast 
down." Psa. 37 :23-28. 

16. God pledges his Omnipotence. 

"A strong man armed, keepeth his place." 
Luke, 11:21. 

17. All things work together for good to 
God's child. 

"All things work together for good to them 
that love God." Rom. 8 :28. 

18. Nothing is able to separate from Christ. 
"I am persuaded that neither life nor death 

etc." Rom. 8:35-39. 

19. God is able to keep what has been com- 
mitted to him. 

"I know whom I have believed, and am per- 
suaded he is able to keep that which I have com- 
mitted unto him, against that day." 2. Tim. 1:12. 

20. He never knew the lost ones. 

"I never knew you, depart from me." Matt. 
7:21-23. 

21. The prayer of Christ secures them. 
"Holy Father, keep, through thine own name 

those whom thou has given me." Jno. 17:11. 

"I will, that those than hast given me, be 
with me that they may behold my glory" Jno. 
17:24. 

22. Christ's blood cleanses from all sin. 

"The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all 
sin. 1. Jno. 1 :7. 



188 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

"In whom we have redemption through hU 
blood." Eph. 1:7, Col. 1:14. 

23. Christ's righteousness secures us. 

'Tor Christ is the end of the law for right- 
eousness, to every one that believeth." Rom. 
10:4. 

"This is the heritage of the servants of th*» 
Lord, and their righteousness is of me saith the 
Lord." Is. 54:13. 

"He shall be called the Lord our righteous- 
ness." Jer. 23:6. 

24. God's love never ceases toward us. 

"I have, loved thee with an everlasting love." 
Jer. 31:3. 

"Love worketh no ill." Rom. 13 :10. 

"Having loved his own, he loved them to the 
end." Jno. 13:1. 

25. The Lord does not impute sin to us. 
"Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will 

not impute sin." Rom. 4:5-8. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE STATE OF THE DEAD. 

[The following speech of J. N. Hall was 
made in reply to a speech by Thomas Williams, 
a Christadelphian, in a debate at Zion, Ky., which 
debate continued six days, beginning August 1, 
1898. Brother Hall's lucid, clear and forcible 
style is clearly seen in this speech, besides it 
meets the doctrine of the death of the soul, as 
held by the Christadelphians, Seventh Day Ad- 
ventists and others. There is comfort in the 
speech as it proves that our loved ones who have 
passed away are not gone forever, but are alive 
with God.] 

j. n. hall's first speech of one hour. 

Brethren, Moderators, Ladies and Gentle- 
men : We are entering upon the discussion of a 
subject that is fraught with profound interest to 
everybody present. I suppose probably no sub- 
ject could claim your attention or arouse your 
interest so much as does the condition of the 
dead. The thought that comes nearest our hearts 
and provokes our falling tears is the recollection 
of our departed friends, and the anxious inquiry 
springs to our lips: What is the present condi- 
tion of the dead? What shall be our condition 
when it shall be said of us that we are dead? 



190 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

We appreciate the very patient attention thai 
has been given to our brother while he proceeded 
to outline before you his position on the subject; 
I bespeak for the entire discussion of -the ques- 
tion that same degree of interest, and as fearful 
as is the thought that we may stand by the open 
sepulchre and look in on the pale face of the ones 
we love, with the expectation that they have fal- 
len into utter unconsciousness, and must sleep 
without consciousness until the resurrection from 
the dead, terrible, I say, as such a truth may be, 
yet if it be the truth of God's word we ought to 
accept it, and I now assert my readiness to accept 
the position that has been taken by this brother, 
if the passages he has quoted, when placed in the 
right connection with what they themselves say, 
teach any such doctrine. I will be willing to be- 
lieve it if God teaches it. But I am not going to 
accept it because of some sort of an interpreta- 
tion my brother may make. I shall follow my 
brother, as he did not follow me, and will not 
set up an opposing line of argument until I have 
noticed his. 

I shall first call attention to the fact that he 
does not like the proposition, and yet volunteered 
to put his name to it; he accepted it, and makes 
it all right so far as he is concerned. The propo- 
sition states just what he tried to prove. I do 
not know why he objects to it. He has been try- 
ing to impress us with the thought that all that 
constitutes man is totally unconscious from the 
time of death until the resurrection. If he didn't 
try to prove that, what did he try to prove? He 
wanted the proposition to read that man is un- 



The State of the Dead. 191 

conscious from death to the resurrection. Well, 
my brother, "all that constitutes man" should be 
understood in that term "man." If there is an 
advantage that is sought to be taken in the use 
of the word "man"' then you see why the brother 
wanted the wording changed. But the doctrine 
of the Christadelphians is that all that constitutes 
man, and everything belonging to man, from the 
time of death to the resurrection, is unconscious. 
That is their doctrine. The proposition states it, 
and the brother will be obliged to stand by it. i 
admit that he will have trouble to defend it. It 
says a good deal, but it will be hardly possible to 
prove it. It means, when you come to consider 
the question, that you have got to find out what 
man is. The brother's proposition required him 
to do this. He forgot it; he overloooked it; for 
some reason he did not do it. Do you know what 
constitutes man from anything he said? He un- 
dertook to prove that man is made of dust, that 
at least a part of the earth is in his constitution. 
That part is accepted; he proved it, we admit it. 
He quoted a number of Scriptures, 1 Cor. 15:45, 
"The first man is of the earth, earthy." We be- 
lieve he had earth in him. Gen. 2:7, "The Lord 
God formed man out of the dust of the ground." 
That proposition is admitted. He was formed of 
the dust. But there is another word, "formed," 
in that connection the brother did not hannen to 
natice. We will s Q e it directly. G°*i. 3:19. "Out 
of the dust wast thou taken." Correct. Job 33: 
6. "Forced out of Clay." That is right. Gen. 
3 :23. All right. Gen. 18 :27, "Abraham but du«»t 
and ashes." That is right. Abraham was dust 



192 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

and ashes ; so are we, but is that "all that consti- 
tutes man?" The proposition says that all that 
constitutes man is unconscious. Dust constitutes 
man in part ; the brother proves it, and we admit 
it; but is that all? Suppose we take a little time 
to inquire into that. Let us see what it does take 
to constitute a man. We admit dust is a part ot" 
it. Turn to 2 Cor 4 : , "For though our outward 
man perish, yet our inward man is renewed day 
by day." There is a man, an "outward man," and 
that man perishes; the brother proved it. What 
man is that? The man taken out of the ground, 
made out of clay, of the earth, earthy, who goes 
back to dust and ashes ; that is the outward man 
and that man perishes. Is that all that consti- 
tutes man? Let Paul answer, "But our inivard 
man is renewed day by day." There is another 
man, brother, that pertains to the constitution of 
man. and belongs to the proposition. Here are 
two men, if you please ; one man of the dust who 
perishes, and the other man rises out of his death 
that does not perish, and Paul declares that both 
are the same man. 

Eph. 3:16, "To be strengthened with might 
by his spirit in the inner man." "The inner man." 
What man is that? Is that the one that came out 
of the dust? Is that the one that dies day by day 
when the body is perishing day by day? Here are 
two men, and they constitute but one man, and 
the brother says that all that constitutes man is 
totally unconscious from death to the resurrec- 
tion. That is true of the dust man, but there is 
anothpr man. Is it true of him? Did he prove 
that the dust man dies? Does anybodv deny it? 



The State of the Dead. 193 

No, sir. He says that all he wants to prove to 
this audience is that when a man is dead he is 
dead. We all believe that, brother. The question 
is, which man is it that is dead? We ask this 
because the Word says there are two of them, 
one on the outside and the other on the inside. 
You prove that the outside man is dead and we 
accept it, but there happens to be a passage you 
have lost sight of that speaks of another man, 
the inner man. 

Rom. 7 :22, "For I delight in the law of God 
after the inner man. ... So then with the 
mind (the inner man) I myself serve the law of 
God, but with flesh (the outer man) the law of 
sin." There are two parts to man, one an outer 
man, the other an inner man. 

1 Pet. 3:1-4, listen, "Likewise, ye wives . - 
whose adorning let it not be that outward adorn- 
ing of plaiting the hair, and wearing of gold and 
putting on of apparel." That is done on the 
outer man, the body. Do not give your special 
attention to that. Peter says, "But let it be the 
hidden man of the heart, in that which is not 
corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and 
quiet spirit." Let it be what? The adorning of 
the inner man. What is that? A meek and quiet 
spirt. Have you got a spirit? These wives had. 
Is that their inner man? Yes, Peter says thaf is 
the inner man, and they are adorning that which 
is not corruptible? This meek and quiet spirit 
is not corruptible. That word "not corruptible" 
is the word which, in Rom. 2 :7, is translated "im- 
mortal," "incorruptible" — the very word in or- 
iginal Greek that is translated "immortal" is 



194 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

there translated incorruptible and is applied to 
the spirit of the godly women. Didn't you say 
something about finding a place which said some- 
thing about an "immortal soul" or an "immortal 
spirit?" Here it is. Look after it a little, if you 
please. 

All that constitutes man is totally uncon- 
scious before the resurrection. What constitutes 
man? An outer man and an inner man; a dust 
body and a spirit; one a dying, perishing body, 
and the other being renewed day by day at the 
same time. These are declarations of God's word. 
It says this is what constitutes a man. 

Let us turn and examine the Scriptures giv- 
en by the brother. He went over a long list of 
Scriptures in a hurry. I took them down as fast 
as he read: "1 Cor. 15:45, "The first man is of 
the earth, earthy." Correct. Did God form man 
from the dust of the earth? He did. What part 
of the man ? His body. What of the spirit ? Did 
he form the spirit out of dust? If he did not, 
where did the spirit come from? 

Job 4:17, "Shall mortal man be more just 
than God?" There it is, "mortal." The body is 
mortal. Is. the spirit mortal? I challenge the 
brother to say so. The brother challenged me to 
find a solitary passage where it said "immortal 
soul." You find a passage containing the words 
"mortal soul," and I will find right next to the 
passage containing "immortal soul." 

Psa. 103:14, "He knoweth our frame, he 
remembereth that we are dust." What is it that 
is dust? Our mortal body. It goes back to dust. 
But is our spirit dust? 



The State of the Dead. 195 

Job 30 :25, "For I know that thou wilt bring 
me to death and to the house appointed to all 
the living." Correct. This is spoken of the body, 
not of the spirit. 

Eccle. 9:5 makes the statement that "the 
dead know not any thing, neither have they any 
more a reward, for the memory of them is for- 
gotten.' The brother takes the position that this 
involves the entire man. "The living know that 
they must die ; but the dead know not any thing." 
That is going to be adimtted, but the question 
arises, What is it that is dead? What is it that 
is involved in the matter of death? Suppose we 
read just a little further from that same author. 
Listen: "Also their love and their hatred, and 
their envy is now perished; neither have they a 
portion any more in anything that is done under 
the sun." You see now he is speaking of death, 
and the relationship of the dead to things which 
are under the sun. This serves as a key. What 
el°ment is it that is being considered as dead? 
Let us look a little further into that. Does the 
death include the spirit? The body is dead; that 
is admitted; and the death mentioned there in- 
cludes the spirit or it does not. Is there some- 
thing that survives? Let us ask this same man 
that used this language in this same book whether 
the spirit goes down to death or not. Listen: 
Eccles. 12 :7 "Then shall the dust return to the 
earth as it was." Does the spirit return to the 
dust? "But the spirit goes to God who gave it." 
What is it then that is dead? The part that per- 
tains to the knowledge that is under the sun. Let 
us see a little further what is meant by the ex- 



196 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

pression, "The dead know not anything." The de- 
claration is, "For he is not the God of the dead, 
but of the living; for all live unto him." That is 
the statement of Jesus Christ. God is not the God 
of the dead, but of the living. But didn't all of 
them die? Yes. Is not all that constitutes a man 
wholly dead? The brother so affirms. If so, God 
is no longer their God. But He is their God ! He 
is, therefore, the God of the dead because they all 
live unto him. Then they are not dead. There is 
an element in them that is not dead. The expres- 
sion must be taken either in a limited or an un- 
limited sense — please look at another part of the 
sentence — "neither have they any more a re- 
ward.' If the application is of unlimited applica- 
tion to all, then this will deny my brother his re- 
ward. He is now alive ; he is going to die ; the 
dead know not any thing, neither have they any 
more a reward. His own passage has cut him oif 
from the ressurrection and from the reward. 
Listen to Job vii. 9, 10 : "He that goeth down to 
the grave shall come up no more. He shall re- 
turn no more to his house; neither shall his place 
know him any more." This declaration is to be 
taken in an unlimited or in a limited sense. The 
statement is that those that go to the grave shall 
come up no more. It is a declaration of the total 
annihilation of the dead and a denial of the res- 
surrection from the dead, if taken in an unlimited 
sense. We must determine the sense of our Scrip- 
tures. So the passage is to be taken in a limited 
sense, and the reference is to those under the sun 
who shall have no more knowledge of anything 
that takes place. But the spirit, which is a part of 



The State of the Dead. 197 

the essential being as God gave it, still lives. The 
inner man returns to God, who gave it. It fol- 
lows, then, that the proposition is untrue so far as 
that passage is concerned. 

But he also called attention to another passage ; 
let me turn and read, Job xiv. 10 : "But man 
dieth, and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the 
ghost, and where is he?" Giveth up what? The 
ghost, ''and where is he?" "As the waters fail 
from the sea, and the flood decayeth and dryeth 
up ; so man lieth down, and riseth not : till the 
heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be 
raised out of their sleep. * * * If a man die, 
shall he live again ? All the days of my appointed 
time will I wait." What is it that dies? The 
body. What is it of which Job is speaking? The 
body, that which goes down to the grave. The 
spirit does not go to the grave. Solomon says the 
spirit returns at death to God who gave it; the 
body returns to dust. If the phrase body does not 
include the spirit, the proof is not to be found in 
this passage for the support of his proposition. 
That it does not include it in this passage is found 
in the fact that Solomon says the spirit returns to 
God who gave it. 

It is said that God formed man from the dust 
of the ground? Did God form man's spirit from 
the dust of the ground? "God formeth the spirit 
of man within him" — Zech. xii. 1. Here is the 
same word "formed" that is used in Gen. ii. 7. 
That body that the brother says was made out of 
the dust of the ground was unconscious until the 
time that God breathed into his nostrils the breath 
of life. That body was nothing but a magnificent 



198 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

corpse until God gave unto it the breath of life. 
But did God make the breath of life of the dust ? 
Was it just breath, or breath having life in it? 
Zechariah declares that God "formeth the spirit of 
man within him." That is made a direct part of 
the matter of his creation. 

The brother referred also to Eccles. iii. 18: 
"I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the 
sons of men, that God might manifest them, and 
that they might see that they themselves are 
beasts. For that which befalleth the sons of men 
befalleth the beasts; even one thing befalleth 
them; as the one dieth so dieth the other; yea, 
they have all one breath; so that a man hath no 
pre-eminence above a beast ; for all is vanity. All 
go to one place ; all are of the dust and all turn to 
dust again." The brother presumes to say as a 
conclusion of this statement that there is no dis- 
tinction between man and beast. They both go to 
one place ; they all are of the dust and all turn to 
dust again. Now the very next sentence, which 
the brother neglected to quote, gives us the key to 
the situation and makes a statement of the true 
nature of the case: "Who knoweth the spirit of 
man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast 
that goeth downward to the earth?" It is true 
that the body of the beast and the body of the man 
are alike, but is it true of their spirits, of their in- 
ner man? The very next sentence declares that 
when you come to their spirits you strike the dif- 
ference. The spirit of the man goeth upward at 
death, and the spirit of the beast goeth downward 
at death. God made the beasts and gave them 
their breath, but he did not breathe into their nos- 



The State of the Dead. 199 

trils of the breath of life. The beast hath breath 
and flesh, and it comes from the dust. In these re- 
spects man's body is like them, but when a man 
comes to die the spirit returns to God who gave it 
and goeth upward. But this is not so of the beast. 

Psa. cxlvi. 3 : 'Tut not your trust in princes, 
nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. 
His breath goeth forth ; he returneth to his earth ; 
in that very day his thoughts perish." What is 
the psalmist David talking of in this connection? 
It is well enough to look at the connection, and by 
doing it we are able to escape false conclusions we 
otherwise would fall into. The psalmist is talk- 
ing about men who put their trust in princes of 
this world. He says, "Put not your trust in prin- 
ces that cannot carry out their purposes." They 
have no perpetuity of life in this world ; when they 
die their purposes perish. That word is also tran- 
slated "purposes," "intentions," "designs." They 
fail ; they are unable to carry out their plans ; they 
die. It has no reference whatever to their condi- 
tion after death. These princes may still live — do 
live, because God is the God of the living. 

Then we have the statement that Hezekiah 
prayed that God would spare his life yet for fif- 
teen years. The brother says, "Did God spare hi? 
life?" Yes. Would he have lived if God had not 
spared lis life? No. Would he have died? Yes. 
In what sense? Total unconsciousness? That is 
the very point the brother undertakes to prove. 
He would have been dead as to his body ; would he 
have been dead as to his inner man ? All men have 
an inner man. When God breathed into his nos- 
trils the breath of life and man became a living 



200 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

soul, did he give the first man what he expected 
every other man to have ? Did he give what those 
wives had, a spirit? Did he give what the Corin- 
thians had, a spirit ? If he did, did that die ? If it 
did the brother has not yet proved it. The bro- 
ther says, suppose he had died and gone to heaven, 
would it have been just to Hezekiah to let him stay 
out of heaven fifteen years? Yes. Why? Be- 
cause God has so constituted life in its natural re- 
lations as to make us love life. So long as we look 
at life from this side of the grave, life is desirable ; 
our relationships here have by nature and associa- 
tion become sweet ; so if, like Paul, we could have 
a glimpse of paradise, we still would have a de- 
sire for the things of this world, unless w^, 
like Paul, had been crucified to the world and the 
world unto us. There is not any inconsistency in 
this. 

But the brother asks what is the need of the 
resurrection if the dead are now alive. He thinks 
it would be cruel to bring them back to their 
earthly bodies. Why bring back the dead from 
heaven ? For instance : Abel has been in heaven 
ever since the time he passed away. Why call the 
spirits back and put them in mortal bodies. In the 
resurrection from the dead they get immortal 
bodies; their bodies become immortal, like their 
spirits in that glorious operation. 

Then the brother came to the New Testa- 
ment. He said: "Lazarus is dead." Jesus Christ 
said it. Was he dead ? He was ; but in what sense 
was he dead? Was he dead in the sense of being 
totallv unconscious ? Was everything that consti- 
tuted Lazarus dead? Was his inner man dead? 



The State of the Dead. 201 

His spirit dead? The declaration is, "The spirit 
returns to God who gave it." If that was true of 
anybody in Solomon's time, wasn't it just as true 
in Lazarus' time? If Solomon's spirit went to God 
at death, and everybody in his time went to God in 
spirit at death, so did Lazarus. Then the spirit of 
Lazarus was not dead. The body died. There is 
no doubt about that. Where did he come from? 
If he was dead in spirit he would have come down 
from heaven; whereas the dead Lazarus came 
forth from the grave. Was he in the grave? He 
was. He had died and been buried. Whenever 
resurrection comes, the spirit comes to the body 
and the body is obliged to come out of the grave. 
The dead body is revived and the man lives. 

Then the brother came to I. Cor. xv. I will 
turn and read that statement : "If there be no 
resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen ; 
and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching 
vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of 
God because we have testified of God that he 
raised up Christ, whom he raised not up if so be 
that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not 
then is not Christ raised; and if Christ be not 
raised your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins. 
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ 
are perished." The argument the brother makes 
is drawn from the expression, "They which are 
fallen asleep in Christ are perished," if the dead 
rise not. The point in the argument is this : "If 
there be a conscious condition of the spirit be- 
tween death and the ressurrection, then there 
could not be any perishing even if their bodies did 
not rise, since there is an element of their being 



202 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

which is already saved. Paul's entire argument is 
hypothetical ; he bases the argument on a suppos- 
ition. He says, "Ye are yet in your sins if Christ 
be not raised from the dead," yet the Corinthians 
had already received the forgiveness of sins. He 
bases the assurance that there was remission of 
sins on the resurrection from the dead, and yet 
whether there was a resurrection from the dead 
or not, they had had remission of sins. He says, 
"Your faith is vain, yet they have faith." In the 
very same hypothesis Paul argues that if there is 
no resurrection of the dead, then you have got no 
spirit and they that have departed have no exis- 
tence at all. Resurrection from the dead is based 
on the idea that man is potentiallly immortal and 
resurrection from the dead is a necessity for the 
development of immortality. If there is no res- 
urrection from the dead, then there is no immor- 
tality; on the same ground you have no faith, and 
no remission of sins; yet you did have faith, and 
remission of sins, resurrection or no resurrec- 
tion. To show that his argument is purely hypo- 
thetical he proceeds to say in the twentieth verse : 
"Now is Christ risen from the dead and become 
the first fruits of them that slept." Therefore 
they that sleep in Christ are not perished; there- 
fore your faith is not vain, our preaching is not 
vain, your sins are pardoned. Therefore the hy- 
pothetical argument Paul makes, instead of sup- 
porting my brother's position, is directly opposed 
to it. 

His next point was the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ. He asks whether Christ was dead. There 
is a sense in which Christ's death involves a separ- 



The State of the Dead. 203 

ation from God. That is the meaning of the word 
death, separation. In that dying hour Christ 
looked up and said, "My God, my God, why hast 
thou forsaken me?" Does God forsake him? Does 
he die? Yes. Therefore the Son of God separ- 
ated from the Father goes down in the grave and 
he speaks of it as "death." And I wish to call at- 
tention to a thought just here. My brother inti- 
mates that Christ became as totally unconscious 
in his death as we are in ours. According to his 
conception, Jesus Christ was wholly without 
knowledge from the day of his death to the time 
of his resurrection. His divinity as well as his 
humanity both alike slept. Listen to what Jesus 
said in his departing hour. He looks up into the 
face of the Father and says, "Father, into thy 
hand I commend my spirit." Where did his spirit 
go? Into the hands of God. Spirits do not go in- 
to the grave; spirits do not return to dust, for 
they are not taken from the dust. 

I believe I have noticed every point taken by 
the brother except the last one. He says the pri- 
mary meaning of the word soul is "breathing crea- 
ture;" it is used very frequently of soul and of 
spirit in the Bible; it is applied to beasts and 
various other things ; it is also applicable to man 
and God. We have got to determine by the con- 
text what the meaning of the word is. That is 
granted. Nearly any word you may think of in 
connection with the Scriptures has various appli- 
cations, and you have to determine its meaning 
by the context. Therefore there is very little to 
be drawn from the statement of the original word 
rendered soul and spirit and sometimes applied 



204 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

to beasts and to man and sometimes to God. If 
it always meant a mortal being, then God is mor- 
tal ; if it sometimes means an immortal being, then 
it may be so applied to man. I have called your 
attention to the line of argument drawn by the 
brother. There is one point further. "The grave 
cannot praise thee; neither any that go down in 
silence.'' Who goes to the grave, to this pit of 
corruption? The outer or the inner man? The 
key to the whole situation is found in this simple 
definition of what constitutes man. If the fleshly 
body is all there is of him, then the fleshly body in 
death is unconscious. If there is an element in 
man separate from the dust body which at death 
goes to God, then it does not go to the grave. All 
these passages the brother stated of going to the 
grave, of having no knowledge under the sun, our 
purposes perishing — all that pertains to the grave. 
It involves the body and does not involve the 
spirit. The brother has to prove that the spirit 
man also goes down to the grave, as does the dust 
man, and when he has established that proposition 
he will make some start to prove his doctrine. 

If I have overlooked a passage that you 
quoted and you will now call my attention to it, I 
will look at it before I proceed. Name it and I 
will now turn and look after it, or name it later 
on. Then let us proceed to inquire into the nature 
of this subject. 

Gen. 1 :26, Man was made in the image of 
God. "And God said, let us make man in our 
image and after our likeness." What is God's im- 
age or likeness as it is expressed in man? Man 
was to have dominion over all earthly creation. 



The State of the Dead. 205 

It may be well to find something further about 
the construction of man who was made in God's 
image, and given this dominion over nature. 
Man's body could not have that ascendancy neces- 
sary for this dominion. There are ten thousand 
things in nature that have decided advantages 
over our bodies, but there is nothing in nature, 
that has an ascendency over our spirits. When it 
comes to his conceptions, his thoughts, his imagin- 
ations, his discoveries, his inventions, man rises 
in the scale of his being until he ascends above 
everything else that has earthly being. Whatever 
it is in man that is in God's image it was to have 
dominion. Flesh cannot do it; therefore flesh is 
not the part of man made in the image of God, 
Man's body could not be made in the image of 
God. Turn to Isa. 40 :2, "To whom will you liken 
God? To what image will ye compare him?" 
You can make an image of man; you can make i't 
out of clay, out of brass, out of gold, out of silver, 
and it is the declaration of Isaiah that nobody can 
make a likeness of God. That man and God are 
not in the same image; if they were you could 
make an image of God as easily as you can make 
an image of man. 

In Acts 17:29, "Forasmuch, then, as we are 
the offspring of God, we ought not to think that 
the godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, 
graven by art of man's device." Any sculptor 
can make an image of man, but no one can make 
an image of God, and this shows us that our 
bodies are not in God's image. 

It is dishonoring to God to attempt to make 
a likeness of him. In Rom. 1:23, "They changed 



206 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

the glory of the incorruptible God into an image 
made like a corruptible man." That was a dis- 
grace to God to make an attempt at it, but it 
would not be a disgrace if man's corruptible body 
was in God's image. 

Phil. 2:6-8, "Who, being in the form of God, 
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but 
made himself no reputation, and took upon him 
the form of a servant and was made in the like- 
ness of man." Here is a change on the part of 
Christ from the likeness of God to the likeness of 
man. He took on himself our flesh and was made 
like we are in body. That shows that our bodies 
are not like God's image. Who took on the like- 
ness of the flesh? Christ. But have you found 
that the outer man, or dust man, that constitutes 
man as to his flesh, and his inner man, are both 
distinct things, and that this outer man is not in 
the image of God ? It is merely of the earth, and 
goes back at death to dust. If there is, therefor^, 
any likeness of God in man, it must be his inner 
man. He has a dual nature ; his dust or material 
body is not in God's image. 

But read again John 4:24, "God is a Spirit, 
and they that worship him must worship him in 
spirit and in truth." There is God's character, 
God's nature. It is a spirit. Let us see if we do 
not find an endowment of that element in man 
which is called spirit, and that the real man made 
in the image of God will turn out to be be the 
spirit which does not die. Rom. 8:16, "The spirit 
itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are 
the children of God." God is spirit, and the rela- 



The State of the Dead. 207 

tionship between us and God is of a spiritual char- 
acter. 

Can this dust body of man be like a spirit? 
Luke 24:36-40, "When. Jesus stood in their midst 
they were terrified and affrighted, supposing they 
had seen a spirit, but Jesus said, 'A spirit hath not 
flesh and bones as ye see me have.' " Dust bodies 
do have flesh and bones, and spirits do not. Spirits 
cannot, therefore, be in the form of dust bodies. 
Now, then, whence came this spirit that does not 
have flesh and bones and that was not made of 
dust? Zech. 12:1, "He formeth the spirit of man 
within him." Notice, he is speaking of the crea- 
tion. Where did the spirit come from? God. 
How? God formed it in man. When God stretched 
out the heavens and laid the foundations of the 
earth that is the creation period, what else did he 
do? He formed the spirit of man within him. 
When? At the beginnin. How? When God made 
man out of the dust of the ground, he was a 
corpse; it takes another act, a creative act, for 
that man to have life. God formed the spirit 
within him, that is what Zechariah says. Moses 
says that God breathed into his nostrils the breath 
of life, and man became a living soul. Whence, 
then, came the spirt? From God. At death what 
becomes of the spirit? The body goes back to 
dust, but the spirit that came from God was 
formed in man at the time of the creation, that 
spirit thus formed at death goes back to God who 
gave it, and you have the same lifeless corpse you 
had at the beginning. What is the distinction 
between man now at death and Adam at the crea- 
tion? He is a corpse; he was then, he is now. 



208 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

There was a period in which he lived. Now he is 
dead. Where is his spirit gone? To God who gave 
it. As to his spirit, he is not dead; as to the 
outer man, he is dead. 

Acts 7 :59, "And they stoned Stephen, calling 
upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my 
spirit." Who said it? Stephen. When? At 
death, when he was dying, he looked up to God 
and said, I am now going, I am taking my depar- 
ture; I know where my body is going, down under 
the stones in death. Is that all that constitutes 
a man? Listen to his statement: "Lord, receive 
my spirit." When Jesus was on the cross he 
cried with a loud voice, saying, "Father, into thy 
hands I commit my spirit. Does all that consti- 
tutes a man become unconscious at death? 

Bu; the question may arise, Can spirits have 
conscious being without material bodies ? The de- 
claration is made that God is a Spirit ; God's body 
is not made of dust ; it does not have material or- 
ganization; he is nothing but spirit. Jesus Christ 
was spirit before he became incarnate. Then he 
had a body and continued in the body until death, 
and from the time of death until the resurrection 
he was without a material body; at the resurrec- 
tion the spirit and body came together. Angels 
are said to be the spirits sent forth to administer 
to them that shall be heirs of salvation, and yet 
they have no material bodies; they are not made 
of dust. It is, therefore, possible for the spirit of 
man to exist separate from his material body and 
still have conscious being in the presence of God 
after death. 

Now a few words about immortal soul; the 



The State of the Dead, 209 

brother did not find it, and nobody else finds the 
expression "immortal soul," yet I showed you that 
there is an incorruptible spirit; the same word 
translated immortal in other places, a spirit undy- 
ing, that abides and will continue, The word 
"mortal" is always applied to the flesh and never 
applied to the spirit, and there is not any state- 
ment that at death the spirit dies. James says 
that the body without the spirit is dead, but the 
spirit is not dead. It is that inner man that we 
claim is still conscious after the death of the body. 
I have called attention to the fact that the 
flesh body is not in the image of God ; let us see if 
the spiritual man is in the image of God. Rom. 
8:29, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did 
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his 
Son. In the transaction in the garden of Eden 
there was a two'fold nature in man. Who was it 
stretched forth his hand and took the fruit? Ad- 
am. What part of Adam? His hand. What was 
it ate of the fruit ? His mouth ; his material body. 
What was it transgressed the law? His material 
body, the only man present. Was there no other 
man present except that? Where was the spirit 
that Zecharaiah said God formed within him? 
Did not that have a part in it? Had man's will, 
his conscience, his mind, no part in the act of 
disobedience? The man's spirit was involved as 
well as his body, and he lost the image of God in 
that transaction. The declaration was, "In the day 
that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." 
In some sense or other man died that day ; he did 
not die as to his body; he died in the sense of a 
moral death, in the sense of a separation from 



210 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

God. In Col. 3 :10, we read, "And have put on the 
new man which is renewed in knowledge after the 
image of him that created him." It becomes like 
a new creation. The man dead in trespasses and 
sins has been brought to life. What is that? 
The inner man. Where does he go at death? To 
God. Stephen's spirit returned to God; 'Jesus* 
spirit returned to God. The thief's spirit went 
with Christ. What died? The body? No, the 
spirit, the inner man, that God said should die in 
the day he ate the fruit, not in the sense of be- 
ing totally extinct, but in the sense of separation 
from God. The body is the outer man, the mor- 
tal ; that dies in the sense of becoming unconscious 
and going back to dust. The word mortal means 
subject to death; the word immortal means ex- 
emption from death. Death as to the body means 
that state of being in which there is a total and 
permanent cessation of the vital functions and 
sensations of life. That is Webster. What of the 
soul, Mr. Webster?- Spiritual death, a perversion 
of the soul by sin, l,oss of the favor of God. 

Can man be dead and at the same time be 
alive? Let us see if it is possible. "She that 
liveth in pleasure is dead while yet she liveth." 
There is life and death both in the same person. 
Look a little further; Col. 2:13, "And you, being 
dead in \our sins and the uncircumcision of your 
flesh, hath he quickened together with him." 
These people who he here says had been dead were 
alive all the time and at the very time he says 
they were dead. That shows that there is one ele- 
ment in man that can be be dead, while at the 
same time there is another element in man that 



The State of the Dead. 21 i 

can be alive. Here are two men, an inner and an 
outer man, and while the inner man is dead ii: 
trespasses and sins, the outer man is very much 
alive. When the outer man is dead and goes into 
the grave, the other man lives in the spiritual 
realm just the same. 

Away back in the Old Testament he is finding 
all his proof in the use of hypothetical expres- 
sions. I am going back to the Old Testament. In 
Isa. 14 :4-9, you will read what the prophet said 
of Babylon: "How hath the oppressessor ceased! 
. . . . hell from beneath is moved to meet thee 
at thy coming; it stirreth up the dead for thee/' 
That word hell is translated from the Hebrew 
word sheol, which represents both the grave and 
the state of the dead in the grave. He told us 
yesterday that everybody in sheol had quft think- 
ing, quit acting, quit speaking. Listen: "it stir- 
reth up the dead for thee." What! I thought if 
they were clean dead it could not stir them up. 
God's word says that they are there in sheol, even 
all the chief ones of the earth, and all stirred up. 
Let us look a little further. Ezek. 31 :15, 17 : "In 
the day when he went down to the grave I caused 
a mourning. ... I made the nation to shake 
at the sound of his fall when I cast him down to 
hell with them that descend into the pit. . . . 
This is Pharaoh and all his multitude." They are 
dead, and in the grave, and in hell. Now compare 
these words on the same subject: "The strong 
among the mighty shall speak to him out of the 
midst of sheol" — dead, buried, in hell, in sheol 
and yet talking! That is from the Old Testament, 
the verv place where he goes to prove that every- 



212 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

thing dead is silent, right out of those same Scrip- 
tures we read that in hell they speak. 

I want to quote another passage, a declara- 
tion of the Old Testament. The Scriptures talk 
about being gathered to the fathers. -Listen: 
Gen. 25 :8, "And Abraham gave up the ghost, and 
died in a good old age, an old man and feeble of 
years, and was gathered to his people." You can- 
not have a gathering to people without consider- 
ing the idea of a multitude. Abraham's body was 
never buried with his people ; it was buried by the 
side of his wife in the cave of Machpelah; yet 
God's word declares before he was buried he was 
gathered to his people. The idea of being gath- 
ered to people carried the idea of a multitude. 
You have got to have a multitude in existence to 
which Abraham went after his death. From the 
New Testament, before this debate closes, we are 
going to find this man Abraham alive with his 
people. 

I want to notice another thought; I want to 
tell you that the ordinance of baptism is a contra : 
diction of thi? man's doctrine. Rom. 6:3, "As 
many as were baptized into Christ were baptized 
into his death. Therefore we are buried with him 
by baptism unto death, that like as Christ was 
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Fa- 
ther, even so we also sho Jd walk in newness of 
life." In this we have a picture of the burial of 
a dead body. Speak to the administrator and say, 
"What are you doing?" Buring the old man." 
"What are you doing?" Raising up the new 
man." Here is a representation of the death and 
burial of the body. What is the condition of the 



The State of the Dead. 213 

man between the burial and the resurrection? Is 
he dead ? You do not bury a man until he is dead. 
Were you clean, good dead when you were put un- 
der the water? Is t) ere a conscious or an uncon- 
scious condition represented by the figure be- 
tween the burial and the resurrection ? I come to 
tell you this morning that the doctrine the brother 
undertakes to impress upon us degrades man to 
the level of the brute; it is a gospel of dirt. 

I propose to show you that all that constitutes 
man does not die at death. Turn, if you please, 
to Luke 20 :37, 38, "Now that the dead are raised, 
even Moses showed at the bush, when he said, I 
am the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. 
God is not the God of the dead, but of the living ; 
for all live unto him." Remember, all three of 
these men were dead at the time this language 
was uttered. Now, if my brother is in the right, 
these men were entirely dead; clean, good dead, 
and they have no life of any sort. Then God is 
not their God. But if there is still an element of 
their being that is alive, that has survived' death, 
then God is their God, for he is not the God of the 
dead, but of the living. How can he be the God 
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when they are dead, 
according to my brother's argument? The answer 
is here, "For all live unto him." Every one of 
them had their spirits return back to God and are 
still alive and in his presence, in his sight. He 
knows of them; he is their God. That includes 
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all of the dead 
until time shall be no more. Jesus positively says 
they are all alive, and I am not, therefore, going 



214 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

to believe that they are all dead in the sense 
my brother believes they are dead. 

Turn to Matt. 10:28, "Fear not them that 
can kill the body, and after that have no more that 
they can do, but rather fear him that is able to 
destroy both soul and body in hell." Will you no- 
tice, man can kill our bodies, but they can not kill 
our souls? That shows that the body and soul 
must be distinct. If my body and soul were the 
same thing, and if a man was to kill my body he 
would kill both together. If body and breath are 
all there is of man, man can kill him. Can any 
man kill him ? Jesus Christ says he cannot do it. 
Why can't he? Can he kill the body? Yes. Can 
he kill the soul? No. Then the body and soul are 
two distinct things. This shows that the spirit 
or soul in any man is distinct from the body and 
is not killed with the body. 

Look further: Luke 9 :29, "And as he prayed, 
the fashion of his countenance was altered, and 
his raiment was white and glistening. And, be- 
hold, there talked with him two men, whicn were 
Moses and Elias." Both these talking with him, 
talking with Christ during his personal ministry, 
Moses and Elias! Talking? Jesus said they did. 
"Who appeared in glory, and spoke of his discease 
which he should accomplish at Jerusalem." They 
talked to him about his death. Who was Moses? 
He died away back yonder. Who was Elijah? 
He was translated hundreds of years before and 
went back to God. Both gone. When have they 
had resurrection? How did they get back? My 
brother says that all that constitutes man is to- 
tally unconscious from death to the resurrection. 



The State of the Dead. 215 

Was everything that constituted these , men un- 
conscious? If so, how could they get back and 
talk? God's word says they did and I believe it. 
Therefore his proposition is untrue. The pres- 
ence of spirits who have come back and have been 
seen and heard and made themselves known is a 
positive proof of the fact of the untruthfulness 
of the proposition. He could not make the propo- 
sition stand to save his life if there were only this 
passage. But We have only given you a start to 
show the absurdity of this doctrine of dirt which 
reduces man to the level of the brute and ignores 
the fact that they, having come from God, return 
to him again. 

We come to the thief on the cross. Let us 
take a little time to look into the question about 
the thief. You will find a reference to it in Luke 
23 :42. The Savior was on the cross dying as a 
malefactor; one thief reviled him and the other 
prayed to him, and his prayer was this : "'Lord, 
remember me when thou comest into thy king- 
dom." The brother intimates that prayer contem- 
plated that the thief had an idea of the future 
coming kingdom, and when the Savior came in 
that kingdom he wanted to be remembered. It 
may be this was the idea of the thief since he pro- 
bably was himself a Jew, or at least had associa- 
ted with the Jews, for he was put to death in Jeru- 
salem, and, no doubt, therefore thought that there 
was coming a time when the Messiah's kingdom 
was to come into Jerusalem, and he wanted to be 
remembered in that kingdom. But Christ at once 
understood his difficulty, and he knew how to deal 
with it. Not away beyond the future will I hear 



216 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

your prayer; I keep no poor penitent man waiting 
hundreds of years for the answer to his prayer; 
you may fix your time, but now is Gods accepted 
time. To-day I will answer you; right now shalt 
thou be with me in paradise. Not away beyond in 
the future when you think I am coming in my 
kingdom in this materialistic reign, but to-day. 
How is Jesus going to answer it ? What is he go- 
ing to give him? Jesus solves the problem and 
looks into his face and says: "TO-DAY shalt 
thou be with me in paradise." 

Let us see if we can find where paradise is; 
if we can, we can find where the thief is and 
where Christ is. Turn to Revelation ii. 7, "To him 
that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of 
life, which is in the midst of \he paradise of God.'' 
There is paradise. Jesu c said to the thief, "To- 
day shalt thou be with me in paradise." Where is 
paradise? The tree of life is in the midst of para- 
dise. Wherever you find paradise you will find the 
tree of life in the middle of it ; wherever you find 
the tree of life you will find paradise. If I could 
make a circle on this board and draw a tree in the 
middle cf it, wherever you find the circle you find 
the tree. Let us take this tree as a pointer. Turn 
to Revelation xxii: "And he showed me a pure 
river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding 
out of the throne of God and the Lamb. In the 
midst of the street of it, and on either side of the 
river, w^.o there the tree of life." Who said that? 
John. What did he see? He saw the tree of life. 
Where did he see it? In the middle of the street, 
and on either side of the river. There is God on 
his throne, and the river proceeding out of the 



The State of the Dead. 217 

throne. Where if .ne tree of life? In the middle 
of paradise. TV aere else is the tree of life? In 
the midst of the city. Then the city and paradise 
is the sar~ place. The 14th verse: "Blessed are 
they tha, keep his commandments, that they may 
have a right to the tree of life, and may enter 
th jiigh the gates into the city." Where is the 
x-ee of life ? In the city . Who has a right to it 7 
They that do his commandments. When do they 
enter? Whenever they pass out of this life and 
go into the holy city. Where is paradise? God's 
throne is in it; the tree of life stands in it, and 
they enter it that keep his commandments. That 
is where the thief went that day. That is the 
heaven we speak of. 

Turn to 2 Cor. 12 :1 : 'I knew a man in Christ 
above fourteen years ago; whether in the body 
or out of the body, I cannot tell." Did you ever 
know a man to talk like that who was a Christa- 
delphian? I know Paul never knew a Christa- 
delphian. If my brother had been there he would 
have said : "You are the most poorly instructed 
Christadelphian I ever saw! Don't you know a 
man could not be out of his body ? When a man is 
out of his body he is dead. Have you lost your 
mind? Has anybody hit you on the head with a 
club? What is the trouble that you cannot tell 
whether a man can be in the body or out? Don't 
you know if he gets out he goes out like a candle ? 
I tell you, Paul wasn't a Christadelphian. "How 
that he was caught up into paradise and heard 
unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a 
man to utter." It is a vision, a revelation. God 
makes it and Paul calls it such. There was para- 



21b Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

dise to which the thief went. The declaration is 
that the tree of life is in paradise, and the tree of 
life is in the city of God. If it is, you might rea- 
sonably expect marvelous things. What did he 
say? Listen: "And heard unspeakable words 
which it is not lawful for a man to utter." Heard 
what? Heard words that a man could not be al- 
lowed to utter." Who did the speaking? Those 
in paradise. He looked in and saw paradise. He 
looked and saw paradise and heard somebody talk- 
talking. 

He had a vision, a revelation from God. There 
was no mere dream about it. He heard unspeak- 
able words. Heard what? Words. What are 
words? Signs of ideas. What are ideas? Con- 
ceptions of conscious minds. Can a man who is 
unconscious express himself in words? Did Paul 
hear words ? He says he did. Where in paradise. 
Where is paradise? Up where the tree of life is 
in the city of God. What have they there? Words. 
What kind of words? Unspeakable words which 
it was not lawful that man should utter, which 
he could not repeat. I say, therefore, in heaven, 
in paradise, they have language there, people talk- 
ing, and when a man is enwrapped in vision, in a 
revelation from God, he can hear the words of 
paradise that would not be lawful to repeat here. 
I tell you, those of you who have lost friends in 
this life, who have stood by the side of the open 
cheerless grave, lift up the eye of faith, the heart 
of hope, and realize that those who have departed 
have entered into the paradise of God, and that 
they, with faithful Abraham and all the good, 
are now singing the songs and talking in a Ian- 



The State of the Dead, 219 

guage that you could not utter. Let me read you 
some statements : 

Conscious beings only can utter words ; Paul 
heard words uttered in paradise. Therefore par- 
adise is a place of conscious beings. 

God's throne is in paradise. God's throne is 
where God is; therefore God is in paradise. 

God is in paradise; at death the spirit goes 
to God; therefore departed spirits are in paradise. 

Departed spirits are in paradise; they enter 
paradise at death and leave it at the resurrection. 
Therefore in paradise we have conscious spirits 
from death until the resurrection. 

Therefore my brother's proposition from one 
end to the other is untrue. 

I turn to Phil. 1 :21-25, "For me to live is 
Christ and to die is gain, . . . yet what I shall 
choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt 
two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ 
which is far better. . . " This is what Paul 
says. I am in a condition of trouble. I am in a 
strait; I have to choose whether to die or rema'.n 
and work for Christ. I am here in prison and 
possibly will be condemned to death if I do not 
take proper means to defend myself, and I am in 
a strait what I shall do about it. If I live it will 
be for your good; if I die it will be for my 
gain. If I go I will go to Christ; my 
body will be crucified and it will go to the ground 
and I will be with Christ. Where is Christ? Ste- 
phen saw him seated at the right hand of God. 
He is over in the next world. He has no communi 
cation with us now; physically we are cut off from 
him. If I depart I will be with him. There if a 



220 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

man looking in the face of death and contemplat- 
ing the possibility of dying and being with Christ 
on the other side. 

2 Pet. 1:3, "Yea, I think it meet, as long as 
I am in this tabernacle" — referring to his body — 
"to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; 
knowing that shortly I must put off this taber- 
nacle even as the Lord Jesus has showed me." 
. . . . "For we have not followed cunningly- 
devised fables" — now notice, the apostle Peter is 
going to draw some conclusion in view of death 
from the revelation he saw when Moses and Elias 
came and talked with Christ. He is going to get 
consolation out of it. "But we were eye-witnesses 
of his majesty; for he received from the Father 
honor and glory, saying, This is my Son in whom 
I am well pleased." We have also a more sure 
word of prophecy. Note : We have had an assur- 
ance in prophecy of life for the dead ; we have all 
of God's promises ; now we have had a conclusive 
demonstration of it; a light has shown in a dark 
place; we never understood, never clearly recog- 
nized; we believed about it, and our faith was 
strong in God's word ; now we have seen a demon- 
stration of it. Peter and the other disciples saw 
men in the death state who came back, who were 
alive and in actual existence. 

2 Cor. 5 :18, "For we know that if the earthly 
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have 
a building of God, a house not made with hand?, 
eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, ear- 
nestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house 
which is from heaven; if so that being clothed 
we shall not be found naked." Paul's idea is: I 



. .The State of the Dead. 221 

do not merely want to die to get out of the body, 
and be done with the troubles of this life; I am 
not going to commit suicide; I want this mortal 
condition that brings me torture of mind and body 
laid aside, and I want to be, not naked, but clothed 
with the other life, that mortality might be swal- 
lowed up of life. . . . "Therefore, we are al- 
ways confident, knowing that, whilst we are are at 
home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.' 
Absence and presence are conditions of conscious- 
ness. You cannot tell if you are absent from any 
place today unless you are conscious. Paul says 
that we want to die and lay down this tabernacle 
and be swallowed up of life, absent from the body 
and present with the Lord. That shows that 
Paul knew that when this body died then his pres- 
ence with the Lord would be a fact. 

Rev. 6:9-11, "And when he had opened the 
fifth seal I saw under the altar the souls of them 
that were slain for the word of God, and for the 
testimony they held. And they cried with a loud 
voice, saying, How long, Lord, holy and true, 
dost thou not avenge our blood in them that dwell 
on the earth? And white robes were given unto 
every one of them." Here is a vision. Look at 
it ! There are people dead ; he said they had been 
slain, but their souls were not slain, because Jesus 
said, Fear not him that can kill the body, but is 
not able to kill the soul. Their souls had not been 
killed. Now where were they? Under the altar. 
What altar? "I saw the Lord stand on the altar, 
and he said, smite ..." That is the millenial 
dawning, that is the time the Lord is coming to 
take vengeance, and these saints were under the 



222 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

altar, and God answered their prayer for ven- 
geance when the time for vengeance came. Now, 
the souls of these people who had been slain were 
right bfore God's throne where God himself is 
standing. They were under the altar ; their bod- 
ies were dead and their spirits, souls, were talk- 
ing. We want to know how long before you 
avenge our blood. God replied to them, You have 
got to be patient for a little while; put the white 
robes on you and rest till your brethren are killed 
like you. The resurrection has not come, and their 
bodies are slain, sleeping in the dust of the 
ground, and here are their souls, there on the 
other side of death, between death and the time 
of the resurrection. This then covers the very 
period of the time of my brother's proposition. 
Listen to what the proposition says: "All that 
constitutes man will be totally unconscious from 
the time of death until the resurrection." And 
here John saw these souls after they were dead; 
here is a passage that comes right in between my 
brother's proposition and knocks it into smither- 
eens. 

Let us notice further. The declaration of 
God's word is, we have eternal life. That is 
promised to believers. I want to call attention to 
some passages briefly on that line. John 3 :14, 16, 
"That whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, 
but have eternal life." There eternal life is 
promised the believer. It begins in this life the 
moment he believes. He puts himself in the posi- 
tion to get that promise the hour he becomes a 
believer. Eternal life has no cessation in it. It is 
put in his hand at once, and has the assurance of 



The State of the Dead. 223 

of God like the souls under the altar, who rest 
and are robed in wnite. 

Further than that; John 6:54, "Whosoever 
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eter- 
nal life," hath, "and will raise him up." Notice, 
will you, he hath eternal life. Is there going to 
be a death about it? Yes ; the body has got to die 
and resurrection is coming to the body, but not- 
withstanding the dying body, he has eternal life ; 
it belongs to that spirit made in the likeness of 
God. Let me submit, if there is a period of time 
from the death of man till the resurrection, when 
he is totally unconscious, then perishing is the re- 
sult for that length of time. The man has gone 
out like the light of the candle, and would not have 
any existence anywhere. If all that constitutes 
man dies at death, then man perishes. The body 
perishes, the breath perishes, the soul perishes, 
and that statement of Jesus Christ never could 
be true. 

John 27:2,3, "That he should give eternal 
life to as many as thou hast given him." What is 
eternal life? To know God. Do they know him 
now? Christ has revealed him to you, and you 
know him. This is life eternal and it never per- 
ishes. 

1 John 6:10, 13, "He that hath the Son hath 
life; and he that hath not the Son hath not life." 
If he believes in Jesus Christ he has the witness 
in himself; he knows it. He that believeth not 
God hath made him a liar. And this is the record 
that God hath given us eternal life and that life 
is in his Son. Our life is in Christ and Christ is 
in us. W T e have him as a peresent possession, be- 



224 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

cause he is formed in you the hope of glory; be- 
cause you have the witness in yourself, you have 
got the life that shall never die; when he comes 
by and by the body shall perish, but when Christ, 
who is cur life, shall appear, then shall we also 
appear with him in glory. We shall stand by his 
side, we shall hear his voice in the resurrection, 
and spirit and body shall glorify God together. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THF WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN THE SALVA- 
TION OF THE SINNER. 



FIRST PROPOSITION. 

The Scriptures teach, that in the conver- 
sion of sinners, there is a distinct, (from the writ- 
ten or spoken word) personal, (the Spirit himself 
acting) power of the Holy Spirit, on the sinner's 
heart. 

hall's first speech. 

Mr. President, Brethren Moderators, Ladies 
and Gentlemen : — 

I have a peculiar pleasure in coming before 
you this morning, for the purpose of investigating 
the proposition that has just been read in your 
hearing. I realize the fact, that our Heavenly 
Father has been very kind to us, in sparing our 
lives, giving us a reasonable portion of health, 
and surrounding us with circumstances so favor- 
able to a presentation, and hearing of the distinc- 
tive doctrines held by the people, whom my friend 
and myself, are here to represent. It affords me 
pleasure to appear before you in support of this 
proposition, because I believe that it is true, — 
that it is the clear, plain, and emphatic teaching of 
God's word, and therefore ought to be most cor- 
dially believed. 



226 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

It affords me pleasure, because we are to 
stand in the presence of a large and intelligent 
jury, who are fully capable of weighing the argu- 
ments presented by my friend and by myself, and 
of deciding in their own minds, which is correct. 
I trust that no one who is present this morning, 
will leave until the close of the discission, but that 
all will remain, and hear all the arguments which 
may be offered on both sides, so that you may be 
able to form a just, impartial and intelligent con- 
clusion as to what is the truth, in regard to this 
proposition. It will be premature on your part, to 
form an opinion on the merits or demerits of the 
question, before you have heard the conclusion of 
all the arguments that may be presented by my 
friend, or myself, for, or against, the proposition. 

The question before us is a vital one, and af- 
fects the very foundation, upon which the whole 
superstructure of the system of doctrines, as held 
by each of us, reposes. 

If my friend is able to show, that the proposi- 
tion I affirm is false, then the entire fabric of my 
system of belief, must inevitably fall ; while on the 
other hand, if I maintain my proposition, and 
show that it is taught by God's word, then the 
whole system of doctrines, as held by my friend, 
and the people whom he represents, must be 
equally false, and must surely crumble into dust, 
for they are diametrically opposed to each other. 

I am also glad to meet a man, who is so able 
to support and defend the doctrines which he be- 
lieves, and who is the chosen representative of his 
people, to uphold their cause in this discussion. 
For we must remember, that neither my friend 



Work of the Spirit in Saving. 227 

nor myself, appear before you, simply as the rep- 
resentatives of his own peculiar notions and ideas, 
as to what the Scriptures teach respecting the 
question before us, but we each appear as the rep - 
resentative of the belief, and teaching of our res- 
pective brethren upon the subject under consider- 
ation. I am here as the representative of my 
brethren, to maintain and defend the truth of the 
proposition, that, 'The Scriptures teach, that in 
the conversion of sinner's, there is a distinct, 
(from the written or spoken word) personal, (the 
Spirit himself acting) power of the Holy Spirit, on 
the sinner's heart.' 

No doubt the reading of this proposition 
sounds somewhat strangely, when read in your 
hearing, but it is on account of the definitions that 
are 'introduced to define, or explain the meaning of 
the terms. My friend, in our correspondence, 
(and that correspondence is here, and can be re- 
ferred to if necessary) refused to debate this pro- 
position, unless I would agree to insert these de- 
finitions. They are no part of the proposition it- 
self, and do not affect its meaning, but are merely 
thrown in as definitions, explanatory of the terms 
used, and the proposition would make complete 
sense, by leaving out these definitions / and would 
read: 

"The Scriptures teach, that in the conversion 
of sinners, there is a distinct, personal power of 
the Holy Spirit on the sinner's heart." 

That is the proposition as it stands, without 
those explanatory definitions, and that is the pro- 
position I am here to affirm. My friend denies i 4 ". 



228 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

You are to be the judge, as to which one of us, 
maintains his proposition. 

By the term "The Scriptures," I mean the ac- 
cepted word of God, the revealed, or written word. 
as contained in the Old and New Testaments. 

I define the word "conversion," to mean that 
change that is made in passing from a state of 
nature, to a state of grace, including every exer- 
cise of the sinner's mind, or heart, from the con- 
viction for sin, to the adoption into the heavenly 
family. Webster says : — "Conversion is a radical 
change of moral character; a change from the 
service of the world, to the service of God; a 
change of the ruling of the disposition of the soul, 
and the appropriate effect in transforming the 
outward life." 

I define the word "power," to mean ability to 
put forth action; an influence exerted; strength, 
force, energy in action; the employment of 
strength, the exercise of any kind of control; in- 
fluence ; dominion ; sway. 

By the word "distinct," I mean that the writ- 
ten and spoken word may be, and is used as a 
means, but in addition to the means, and distinct 
from them, in themselves considered, the Spirit 
displays his power. To be distinct, is to be so sep- 
arated from the means, as not to be confounded 
with them, not liable to be misunderstood. 

The first proposition as read by President Mc- 
Call, is as follows : 

The Scriptures teach, &c. 

By "personal," I mean that which belongs, or 
pertains to a person. It implies that the work of 
the Spirit in the conversion of sinners, is the work 



Work of the Spirit in Saving. 229 

of a person, not a thing, an essence, or a mere 
influence. It means that the Holy Spirit as a per- 
son, is active in the work of saving men. 

The "Holy Spirit." I understand the God- 
head to be a trinity, composed of three divine per- 
sons, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or Holy 
Spirit, and that this term represents the divine 
character of one of the three persons. The term 
Holy Spirit is the Scriptural name for the third 
Person in the Trinity. 

The word "heart" is used for the soul, and all 
the powers hereof; as the understanding con- 
science, will, affections, and memory. I get this 
definition from Buck's Theological Dictionary, and 
I trust my worthy opponent will be satisfied with 
the definition thus given. 

By the term "Sinner's heart," I mean the 
heart of man, who has never been reconciled to 
God, by the death of Jesus Christ — an unsaved 
man. 

Now, I have defined my proposition so clearly 
that the least intelligent man in the congregation, 
cannot fail to understand it. Nor can any one fail 
to understand the issue between my friend and 
myself. I think I have made both so plain, that no 
one who has attended to what I have said, can fail 
to fully understand my position and the position 
of my friend. 

My proposition does not deny the use of 
means on God's part, to accomplish his purpose, 
and while I claim that the Holy Spirit can and 
does operate on the heart of the sinner, without 
means, and above all means, I do not ignore the 
fact that He uses means. I believe in the use of 



230 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

all the means, which God has appointed for the 
conversion of the sinner. I believe in a preached 
Gospel, a living ministry and a ivitnesing Church. 
I believe that the "gospel is the power of God 
unto salvation, to everyone that believeth," and 
that "it hath pleased God by the foolishness of 
preaching, to save them that believe." I believe 
that God has called men by His Spirit, and has 
sent them forth to proclaim the "unsearchable 
riches of Christ." "Who then is Paul, and who is 
Apollos,but ministers by whom ye believed, even 
as the Lord gave to every man?" I believe that 
Jesus Christ has established his church, or king- 
dom here on earth, and has given to it doctrines, 
and ordinances which are to be commemorated 
until "He shall come again," and his doctrines, or- 
dinances and teachings are embodied in his writ- 
ten word, and that, not beyond, or without them, 
but in conjunction with them, there is a distinct 
personal power of the Holy Spirit. 

My proposition does not assert that the work 
of the Spirit is distinct from the written or spoken 
word, in the sense that he saves men, when there, 
is no knowledge of Christ. But rather, it asserts 
that the work of the Spirit is in addition to the 
means used. This work of the Spirit may reach 
the sinner through the instrumentality of means, 
but its power is distinct from the poiver of means. 

As an Illustration of this power, I call your 
attention to Deuteronomy, first chapter, and from 
the 41st to the 45th verses, inclusive: "Then ye 
answered and said unto me, We have sinned 
against the Lord, we will go up and fight accord- 
ing to all that the Lord our God commanded us. 



Work of the Spirit in Savng. 231 

And when ye had girded on every man his weap- 
ons of war," — here are the means they were to 
use, — "ye were ready to go up into the hill. And 
the Lord said unto me, say unto them, Go not up.. 
neither fight;" — Why? they had all the means nec- 
cessary? — "for I am not among you" — here was 
the reason, they had the means, but they lacked 
the poiver that was necessary to make the means 
effectual, God was not among them, — "Go not up, 
neither fight ; for / am not among you ; lest ye fee 
smitten before your enemies. So I spake unto 
you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled agarast 
the commandment of the Lord, and went presum- 
ptiously up into the hill," — Here is a man that 
says that means are all that is necessary for the 
accomplishment of God's work ; but his word says 
it is "presumpton." — "And the Armorites, which 
dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and- 
chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, 
even unto Homah. And yet ye returned and' wept 
before the Lord ; but the Lord would not hearken 
to your voice nor give ear unto you." — Such was 
their presumption, going to battle, depending on 
means only. 

Again, Deuteronomy, 20th chapter, 1st to 
4th verses" : When thou goest out to battle against 
thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and 
a people more than thou, be not afraid of them," 
Why should they not be afraid of a people more 
than them, and better armed? "for the Lord thy 
God is with thee, which brought thee up out of 
tie ] and of Efypt. And it sii.v'.i b\ when ye are 
come niph unto the bat'V \ that the priest shall ap- 
proach and speak unto the people, and shall say 



232 ■ Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

unto them, Hear, Israel, ye approach this day 
unto battle against your enemies; let not your 
hearts faint; fear not and tremble, neither be ye 
terrified because of them." Why not? "For the 
Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight 
for you, against your enemies, to save you." I 
quote these passages simply as illustrations of the 
kind of power that is used, and to show that the 
power is distinct from the means, while it works 
with and through the means. I and my brethren 
believe and teach that in the conversion of the sin- 
ner, God uses means, yet there is a power, called 
the power of the Holy Spirit, which is distinct 
from the means, yet works through the means. 
My friend contradicts this, and says there is no 
such power, and that it is all effected by the means 
— that all the power there is, is incorporated in 
the means themselves. I suppose he will not deny 
this, for it is the teaching of the leading preachers 
of the Current Reformation, and he will remember 
that while I am not here to present my own. pecu- 
liar notions, but as the representative of the doc- 
trines held and taught by my brethren,/ie also 
stands as the representative of his brethren, and 
of course as I do not know what position he may 
take until he replies, and in the absence of any 
arguments direct from him, I must suppose him 
to be in sufficient harmony with his brethren of 
the Reformation, as to indorse their teachings, at 
least those of them who are acknowledged leaders 
of his denomination, such as Mr. Campbell, Mr. 
Lard ,Mr. Sweeny, etc. They declare that there 
is no such distinct power. 

Let us hear what Mr. Campbell says upon the 



Work of the Spirit in Saving. 233 

subject, and I suppose he will be accepted as good 
authority by my friend, since he is the founder 
of the distinctive doctrines, which characterize his 
denomination, and distinguish them from all other 
people. In his Christian System, page 267, he 
rays, "All that is done in us before regeneration, 
Gcd our Father, effects by the Word, or gospel 
as dictated and confirmed by the Holy Spirit." 

In his Millennial Harbinger, vol. 1, page 294, 
he says : "And when we think of the power of the 
Spirit of God exerted upon minds, or human spir- 
its, it is impossible for us to imagine that that 
power can consist in ANYTHING ELSE but 
WORDS, or ARGUMENTS." Again, Millennial 
Harbinger, vol. 2, page 295, he says, "As the spirit 
of man puts forth all its moral power in the words 
which it fills with its idsas, so the Spirit of God 
puts forth all its converting and sanctifying power 
in the tvords which it fills with its ideas" 

In Millennial Harbinger, vol. 2, page 297, and 
in Christianity Restored, page 362, he says, "All 
the moral power of God or of man, is exhibited 
in the truth which they propose. Therefore, we 
say, that if the light or the truth contain all the 
moral power of God, then the truth alone is ail 
that is necessary to the conversion of men." 

Again, in Christianity Restored, page 350, 
"If the New and Old Testaments contain all the 
arguments which can be offered to reconcile man 
to God, and to purify them who "re reconciled, 
then all the power of the Holy Spirit which can 
operate on the human mind IS SPENT; and he 
that is not sanct : fi?d and saved by these, can not 



234 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

be saved by angels or spirits, HUMAN or Di- 
VINE." 

I introduce another witness, Mr. Sweeny, who 
is one of the ablest defenders of the doctrines of 
the Current Reformation they have ever had. In 
the Sweeny and Crawford Debate, page 124, he 
said, "Let it be borne in mind that I believe the 
Divine power of the Holy Spirit overcomes the 
enmity of the human heart, by acting upon it 
through the medium of Divine Truth. That's my 
position. I contend for the sufficiency, there- 
fore, Of the TRUTH to ACCOMPLISH the CONVER- 
SION Of SINNERS." 

I introduce the testimony of another witness, 
Mr. Moses E. Lard, than whom there is not a 
fairer, clearer, or more candid and able writer 
among the people my friend represents, and he 
says, in Lard's Review of Campbellism Examined, 
page 83, "But what do we mean when we say, the 
Spirit operates through the truth? We mean 
that it operates by the truth ; that is, that the di- 
vine truth is itself the vital power by which, in 
all cases, the Spirit effects conversion; in other 
words, that the Spirit spends on the mind of the 
sinner in conversion no influence except such as 
RESIDES in the truth as divine, as of the Spirit, 
And we shall further add, that neither in quantity 
nor in force, do we conceive that this influence 
can be increased and the human will be left frpe.' , 

Will you hear Mr. Lard? He says, that 
"there is NO nifluence of the Spirit on the mind 
of the sinner in conversion, except such as resides 
in the truth." 

Again, Mr. Lard states his proposition in his 



Work of the Spirit in Saving. 235 

book, "Review of Campbellism Examined," thus, 
"The Holy Spirit operates in conversion through 
the truth only." What do you mean, Mr. Lard, 
when you and your people say, "The Spirit oper- 
ates through the truth?" Why, "we mean that 
it operates by the truth ; I mean that truth oper- 
ates ; that divine truth is itself the vital power, by 
which in all cases the Spirit effects conversion." 
Does the Holy Spirit use any other means, or in- 
strumentalities in conversion? No! "for the Holy 
Spirit operates in conversion through the truth 
only!" says Mr. Lard. 

Mr. Campbell's affirmative proposition, in the 
Rice-Campbell Debate reads as follows, "In con- 
version and sanctification, the. Spirit of God op- 
erates on persons only through the word." 

Mr. Briney said in his debate with Brother 
Moody, of the Baptist Gleaner, last summer, "The 
personal power of the Spirit is not present with 
the word, in the conversion of the sinner." Again, 
he said, "The Scriptures teach that the gospel 
is sufficient for the conversion and' sanctification 
of sinners." Mr. Briney here says in effect, that 
"I deny that there is any personal power of the 
Holy Spirit exerted upon the sinner's heart in 
conversion." 

Now, this is the position of my friend, or at 
least the position of the leading preachers and 
writers among the people whom he is here to rep- 
resent. Of course he may not indorse the doc- 
trines of his people, and thus escape the conse- 
quences of such a position, but that these are the 
doctrines of the Current Reformation, I have al- 
ready proven, and if necessary can bring addition- 



236 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

al proof to the same effect ; and these are the doc- 
trines I am here to deny, and we have only to wait 
and see, until my friend makes his first speech, to 
find out whether he indorses his brethren, whom 
he has apeared before you to represent, and to see 
whether he will take a position similar to that 
of his brethren upon this subject. Of course, he 
can refuse to indorse his brethren if he so pleases, 
and ignore their teachings, but that is his busi- 
ness and we will wait and see what his position is. 
I now address my self more fully to the sub- 
ject. I think the issue is clear cut between us, and 
amounts to just this: that in the conversion of 
the sinner, God works, and God does not work. 
I know there are a class of Scriptures, which taken 
by themselves and without reference to any other 
part of God's word, that seem to teach that the 
Spirit alone does the work. But there is another 
class of Scriptures which occupy a "golden mean" 
between the two, and which, when taken in all 
their bearings and relations completely harmonize 
God's word, and these Scriptures teach the doc- 
trine which I believe and teach, that it is not by 
the Word alone, or by the Spirit alone, but that it 
by both the Spirit and the Word, in conjunction 
with each other, each perf3rming the work as- 
signed to each in the conversion of the sinner. 

The parable of the sower is a striking illustra- 
tion of these different classes. We are taught in 
this parable that the seed is the word of God. 

Now, suppose we are riding along the road, and 
we come across a man in the woods sowing seed. 
Here he is, sowing the seed broadcast among the 
trees and bushes, and around over the logs and 



Work of the Spirit in Saving. 237 

stumps, and brush — anywhere and everywhere 
sowing his seed. We ride up and ask that man 
what he is doing? "Oh," says he, "I am sowing 
wheat!" "Sowing wheat?" we ask in astonish- 
men, "why you don't expect to get a crop, do you, 
sowing around the logs and brush,?" etc "Why, 
yes, sir," says the man." This is a new kind of 
seed. You see there is a peculiar power in this 
seed that will clear up the ground, remove the 
logs, and trees, and brush, and break up the 
ground, and produce an abundant harvest. This 
is a splendid kind of seed, sir." (Laughter.) This 
is the man who believes that all the power is in 
the Word alone. But here is another man who 
goes to work and prepares the ground, and gets 
it in good condition for sowing, and then goes to 
his home, folds his arms, and sits quietly down, 
and expects a harvest. You ask him, "What he 
has prepared his ground for?" He says, that he 
"expects to raise a crop of wheat." "Well my 
friend, you have got your ground in mighty fine 
condition for sowing, and if you will plant the 
seed, you may expect a good harvest," "Oh," he 
says, "I don't need to sow any seed on this ground, 
it has a peculiar power or element in it, that all 
you have to do is to get it good condition, and it 
will produce an excellent harvest without sowing 
any seed on it at all." This is the man that be- 
lieves that all the power is in the Spirit alone, and 
that all a man has to do is to fold his arms, and 
in God's good time, he will do the work. 

Now, I am going to admit all the power God 
has placed in his Word, yet I believe that that 
power is exerted on the sinner's mind and heart, 



238 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

through the personal influence of the Holy Spirit. 
I do not believe that power is in the Word alone, or 
that it is in the Spirit alone,without the use of 
any other means whatever, but I believe that "God 
hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation 
through the sanctification of the Spirit, and belief 
of the truth." Not one alone, without the other, 
but both together. We cannot lay stress on one, 
and exclude the other. 

My first argument in support of the proposi- 
tion is based on the fact, that MAN IN AN UNRE- 
genebated state, will not accept the word 0? 
God, wituout the distinct ineluence oe the 
Spirit. 

I sub-divide this argument into two parts, 
First. The metaphorical allusions to man's 

condition, and, 

Second. The specific statements of Scripture 

showing man's condition. 

Under the head of "Metaphorical Allusions," 
the Scriptures represent the unregenerate man 
as bing blind. In 2 Cor. 4 : 3-4, we read : "But if 
our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the 
minds of them which believe not, lest the light of 
the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image 
of God, should shine unto them." Here we are 
taught they are blinded by the god of this world. 
In Eph. 4:17-19, we find this language: "This i 
say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye 
henceforth walk not as other gentiles walk, in the 
vanity of their mind, having the understanding 
darkened, being alienated from the life of God, 



Work of the Spirit in Saving. 239 

through the ignorance that is in them, because of 
the blindness of their heart ; Who being past feel- 
ing, have given themselves over unto lascivious- 
ness, to work all uncleanness with greediness." 
Here the blindness of their hearts is said to be the 
cause of their alienation. 

In 1 John 2 : 11, we read : "But he that hateth 
his brother is in darkness and knoweth not whith- 
er he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded 
his eyes." Here we are told that the darkness of 
sin blinds the eyes of the sinner. From these, 
and other passages which we might quote, we are 
taught that man is spiritually blind. His inability 
to perceive the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and to 
see, and realize his own spiritual sight. Now sup- 
pose you have a boy who is blind. You take him 
to an occulist for treatment. He makes the boy 
sit down, and he proceeds to make a careful ex- 
amination of his eyes. When this examination is 
through, you ask the occulist, if he thinks he can 
cure him. "Oh, yes," says the doctor, "I can 
cure him easy enough, I know just what is the 
matter with his eyes/' and he takes a seat by the 
boy and proceeds to dilate upon the pleasure and 
happiness of seeing. He expatiates upon the beau- 
ties of nature, and shows him how light falls upon 
the retina, bearing with it the images of beauty 
around us, and how it passes along the optic nerve 
to the brain, and produces the sensation of sight. 
He explains to the boy how he has lost this by 
by the disease that has affected his eyes, and tells 
him that when this disease is removed that he 
will be able to see, and appreciate all the beauties 
of nature around him. After he has explained the 



240 Memoirs of Eld, J. N. Hall. 

nature of his disease fully, and has explained to 
him thoroughly the whole process of seeing, he 
asks him if he understands it all. "Oh, yes," says 
the boy, "I understand it very well." "Well then, 
SEE !" the doctor suddenly cries. "But I can't see; 
I am blind !" the boy replies, "open my eyes ! apply 
your remedy! restore my sight! and then I can 
obey your command !" 

If it is absurd to suppose that a man physi- 
cally blind, could receive his sight, simply by hear- 
ing an occulist lecture upon the beauties of na- 
ture, and the process of seeing, it is equally ab- 
surd to suppose that a man can receive spiritual 
sight, merely by hearing a preacher explain the 
fall of man, and the process of his restoration, 
without any other power being exerted, except 
that which is in the written or spoken word. In 
Psalms 119:18 David realized his spiritual blind- 
ness, and he oppealed to the proper source for re- 
lief. He cries, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may 
behold wondrous things out of thy law." I tell 
you that if we would have this spiritual cataract 
removed, we must apply to the spiritual physician. 

In the second place, the Scriptures represent 
man as a captive. 

In Isa. 61:1 we read: "The Spirit of the 
Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath an- 
nointed me to preach gocd tidings unto the meek ; 
he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, 
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening 
of the prison to them that are bound ;" That this 
language does not refer to Jewish captivity, but 
does refer to spiritual bondage, and liberation ef- 
fected through the meditation of Christ, is shown 



Work of the Spirit in Saving. 241 

by the fact, that our Saviour quoted this language, 
and applied it to himself, as recorded in Luke 4:13 
and he was not merely to proclaim liberty, but 
also to open the prison to them that were bound. 
Again, in Isa. 42 :6-7, "I the Lord have called thee 
in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and 
will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the 
people, for a light to the gentiles ; to open the blind 
eys, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, 
and them that sit in darkness out of the prison 
house." He is not merely to tell them of liberty. 
but he is to bring them out. In 2 Tim. 2 :24-26, we 
find this language : "And the servant of the Lord 
must not strive; but be gentle to all men, apt to 
teach, patient; in meekness instructing those who 
oppose themselves ; if God peradventure will give 
them repentance to the acknowledging of the 
truth'; and that they may recover themselves out 
of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive 
by him at his will." Here we are taught that it is 
God that gives them repentance, which enables 
them to recover themselves. Thus we see that 
man is a captive, that he is taken captive by Satan 
at his will. Here is a man who is confined in a 
dungeon. You go to him, and tell him what a 
glorious thing it is to enjoy liberty. You tell him 
that it is the most, delightful thing in this world 
to breathe the froe air of heaven, and to be able 
to go where and when you please, to stay as long 
as you please, aad to return when you please. You 
ask him why he does not come forth and enjoy all 
this. He answers, "I cannot ; I am bound ! I am 
confined by this chain. If you will knock off these 
manacles and these chains I will gladly come forth' 



242 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

but until you do this, it is perfectly useless, nay, 
it is absolute mockery, to come and tell me about 
the blessings of liberty." So it is with the man 
who is a spiritual captive. It is useless to pro- 
claim liberty to him, unless there is a power to 
break the bondage in which he is confined by Sa- 
tan, who is the "strong man armed," and it re- 
quires a stronger than he, even the personal 
power of the Spirit of Christ, to open the prison 
doors and let the prison be free. 

In the next place we have man represented 
a^ being sick. Numerous Scriptures were quoted 
to show this. Now take the figure and apply it. 
A man is sick. He sends his son for a physician. 
Instead of going to see the sick man he simply 
diagnoses the case, the sick man says this just 
what is the matter with me, and I know just how. 
I came, to get sick, I know the prescription, and a 
knowledge of all this, is all that is necessary. I 
believe the doctor knows all about my case, and 
now all I have to do is to be quiet, and I shall soon 
be restored to prefect health." 

Now, the sinner is represented as being sick, 
and he not only needs to be informed of the na- 
ture of his disease, and that there is a remedy, 
but that remedy must be actually applied, else all 
his knowledge will never do him any good. Jesus 
Christ is the great physician, and his blood is the 
remedy, and that blood must be applied to the sin- 
ner's heart, to cleanse and' purify it from sin, 
ere he can be restored to spiritual health. A^d as 
this is a spiritual work, it must require spiritual 
agency and power. 



Work of the Spirit in Saving. 243 

The Scriptures also represent man as being 
spiritually dead. In Eph. 5 :14, we read : "Where- 
fore he saith, awake thou that sleepest, and arise 
from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." 
Rom. 6:13: "Neither yield ye your members as 
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but 
yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive 
from the dead, and your members as instruments 
of righteousness unto God." Col. 2:13: "And 
you, being dead in your sins, and the uncircum- 
cision of your flesh, hath he quickened together 
with him, having forgiven you all trespasses." 
John 5:25: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the 
hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall 
hear the voice of the Son of God;and they that 
hear shall live." In 2 Cor. 5:14,15; 1 Pet 4:6, 
and Eph. 2:1-7, we are taught that the unregen- 
erate man is dead in trespass and sins. 

Now my friend may attach whatever mean- 
ing he pleases to this idea of death, he may be 
wholly dead, or partly dead, but whatever inter- 
pretation he may place upon it, he cannot divest 
it of its real meaning. Death is the absence of 
life. A man who is dead is not alive, and so long 
as he has the least particle of life in him, he is 
not dead. But when a man is dead, he is dead, he'= 
got no life in him. Suppose you go and preach 
to a man who is dead, will your preaching do any 
good, unless there is some divine power to ac- 
company your words? Would this simple preach- 
ing of the prophet in the valley of dry bones, have 
accomplished anything had there been no exercise 
of divine power? 

You go and preach to these dry bones and 



244 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

see if they will live. It required something more 
than mere preaching to cause those dry bones to 
live. The prophet was commanded to go, and 
"Phophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, 

ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus 
saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I 
will cause breath to enter into you, and cover you 
with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live ; 
and ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I proph- 
esied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, 
there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the 
bones came together, bone to his bone. And when 

1 beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came upon 
them, and the skin covered them above ; but there 
was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, 
Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, 
and say to the wind, thus saith the Lord God: 
come from the four winds, breath, and breathe 
upon these slain, that they may live. So I proph- 
esied as he commanded," — here was the man 
preaching — here was the means employed, — "and 
the breath came into them, and they lived, and 
stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army." 
Here was God working — here was divine power 
displayed — a power distinct from the word — dis- 
tinct from the preaching, yet acompanying it, so 
that those dry bones became alive — an exceeding 
great army. 

What good would the preaching or the 
prophesying have done, had not God accompanied 
it with his divine power? There were some in the 
days of the apostles who thought that they could 
perform the same miracles that the apostles did, 
without this divine power, but they signally 



Work of the Spirit in Saving. 245 

failed, and so must everyone fail, who attempts 
to raise dead sinners by his simple proclamation 
of the word, unless that word is accompanied by 
the distinct power of the Holy Spirit. 

My second argument under this head is: 
"The specific statements of Scripture show man's 
condition to be such that direct, distinct, spir- 
itual power is necessary for man's salvation. 

The Scriptures declare his very origin to be 
sinful. The Psalmist declares (Ps. 51:5), "Be- 
hold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my 
mother conceive me." Again he says (Ps. 58: 
3-4), "The wickend are estranged from the 
womb; they go astray as soon as they be born, 
speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of 
a serpent : they are like the deaf adder that stop- 
peth her ear." 

In Gen. 8:21, he is said to be evil from his 
youth. "And the Lord said in his heart, I will 
not curse the ground any more for man's sake; 
for the imagination of man's heart is evil from 
his youth." And in Gen. 6:5, it is declared that 
God saiv — he didn't hear it — that "God saw that 
the wickedness of man was great in the earth, 
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his 
heart, was only evil continually." Not some im- 
aginations, but every imagination — not evil some- 
times and good at other times, but only evil con- 
tinually. From man's standpoint of observation 
, man's spiritual condition may not be so bad af- 
ter all, but let God look, and see, and tell us, just 
how it is. Ps. 14:2-3: "The Lord looked down 
from heaven upon the children of men, to see if 
there were any that did understand, and seek 



246 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

God. They are all gone aside, they are alJ 
together become filthy; there is none that doeth 
good, no, not one." And God says in Jer. 17 :9, 
that "The heart is deceitful above all things, and 
desperately wicked; who can know it?" And In 
Rom. 3:9-18, God has given us a moral looking- 
glass, in which all men may behold their spiritual, 
or moral likeness. 

These Scriptures teach us that man is terri- 
bly wicked and sinful, and that it is utterly impos- 
sible for him to restore himself to the favor of 
God unless aided by the distinct, personal power 
of the Holy Spirit upon his heart. 

My Second General Argument, is based 
on the prophetic promises of divine power in the 
salvation of men. 

In Deut. 30:6, we read: "And the Lord thy 
God will sircumcise thine heart, and the heart of 
thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine 
heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest 
live." Who is it that is to circumcise the heart? 
God does it. What is to be the result of this cir- 
cumcision? Why, they are to love God with all 
the heart and with all the soul, that they may live! 
(Time out.) 



CHAPTER XIII. 

PREPARATION ON HARDSHELLISM. 

In Debate With Lemuel Potter. 
PROPOSITIONS. 

Proposition 1. The Scriptures teach that 
Christ died on the cross for all of Adam's pos- 
terity. 

J. N. Hall affirms ; Lemuel Potter denies. 

Proposition 2. The eternal salvation of the 
sinner is secured to him without any conditions 
whatever on his part. 

Lemuel Potter affirms; J. N. Hall denies. 

DEFINITIONS ON FIRST PROPOSITION. 

1. The "Scriptures"— the Word of God. 

2. "Teach" — reveal, declare, make known. 

3. "Christ"— the Savior, the Son of God. 

4. "Died on the Cross" — was crucified, sac- 
rificed. 

5. "All of Adam's posterity" — All men, 
everyone, the whole world. 

Argument 1: My first argument is drawn 
from the fact that God is the Creator of all men f 
and that he will do all he can for the happiness, 
the well-being, and the salvation of everyone. lim- 
ited only by the principles of eternal right and 
justice. 

CREATION. Isa. 45:12. "I have made the enrtt. 
and created man upon it: I even my hands have stretched 



• 



248 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. 
I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct 
all his ways, etc. 

MAL. 2:10. "Have we all not one Father? Hath 
not one God created us?" 

ACTS. 17:26. "And hath made of one blood all 
nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth; 
and hath determined the times before appointed, and the 
bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the 
Lord, if hapily they might feel after Him and find Him, 
though He is not far from every one of us: for in Him we 
live, and move, and have our being; as certain of your 
own poets have said. For we are also His offspring." 

In the creation he did us good — so he will in 
re-creation. 

Argument 2 : My second argument is based 
on the fact that God loved all men, and by his 
love would be prompted to do all he consistently 
could for man's salvation. 

LOVE. Jno. 3:16. "God so loved the world, that He 
gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth i.i 
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 

1. Jno. 4:9. "In this was manifested the love of God 
toward us, because sent his only begotten Son into the 
world that we might live through Him." 

1. God loved the world, all the world. 

2. This love caused Christ to die for the 
world. 

3. Whosoever believes can live through him. 

1. Love always prompts to goodness. 

2. God's love will be supreme in this. 

Argument 3: My third argument is based 
on the fact that all of Adam's posterity need sal 
vation, because not one of them possesses any 
natural ability to obtain it without divine help. 



Preparation on Hardshellism. 241) 

ALL ARE LOST. Psalm 53 ±-6. "God looked down 
from heaven upon Uue children of men, to see if there 
were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every 
one of them is gone hack; they are altogether become 
filthy; there is none that doeth good, no not one." 

RGAi. 3:9. "We have before proved both Jews and 
Gentiles, that they are all under sin. As it is written, 
There is none righteous, no not one. For all have sinned 
and come short of the glory of God." 5:23. 

1. All men are God's creatures. 

2. He loved all. 

3. All of them are alike sinners. 

4. He will have his salvation offered to all 
alike. 

Argument 4: I base my fourth argument 
upon the fact that God is no respecter of persons, 
until the character of the persons gives them a 
special standing in his grace. And, therefore, he 
will make equal arrangements for the salvation 
of all men. 

NO RESPECTOR OF PERSONS. Acts. 10:34. I 
perceive, of a truth, that God is no respector of persons; 
but in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh 
righteousness is accepted with Him." 

2. CHRON. 19:7. "There is no iniquity with the 
Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts." 

RO'M. 2:10. "Glory, honor and peace to every man 
that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the 
Greek; for there is no respect of persons with God." 

EPH. 6:9. "Your Master also is in heaven, neither 
is their respect of persons with Him." 

COL. 3:25. "He that doeth wrong shall receive for 
the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect of 
persons." 

If no respect is shown, then Christ will die 
for all of Adam's posterity. 

Argument 5 : My fifth argument is based on 



250 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

the fact that God has not decreed, of his good 
pleasure, that any of his earthly creation snail 
suffer eternal death. 

HAS NOT DECREED DEATH. EZ. 33:11. "As I 
live saith the Lord God, I iiave no pleasure in the death of 
the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and 
live; turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die, O house on 
Israel.' 

LAM. 3:33. "He doth not afflict willingly, nor 
grieve the children cf men." 

2. PETER, 3:9. "The Lord is not slack concerning 
His promises, as some men count slackness, but is long 
suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, 
but that all should come to repentance." 

1. He created all. 

2. He loved all. 

3. All are lost. 

4. He respects one no more than another. 

5. He is unwilling for any to perish. 
Then Christ died for all. 

Argument 6 : I base my sixth argument on 
the fact that the covenants of God concerning 
Christ give promise of him as a blessing to all 
of Adam's posterity. 

COVENANTS. Gen. 12:3. "And in thee shall all 
families of the earth be blessed." 

Gen. 18:18. "All the nations of the earth shall be 
blessed in Him." 

ACTS. 3:25. "Ye are the children of the prophets, 
and of the covenant God made with our fathers, saying 
unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kingdoms of 
the earth be blessed." 

GAL. 3:8. "And the Scripture, forseeing that God 
would justify the heathen through faith, preached before 
the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations 
be blessed." 

5:16. "Now to Abraham and his seed were the prom- 



Preparation on Hardshellism. 251 

ises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many, but 
as of one, And to thy seed WHICH IS CHRIST. 

What was this Abrahamic blessing? 

Gal. 3:13: "Christ hath redeemed us from 
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us ; 
for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth 
on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might 
come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ." 

Argument 7 : In my seventh argument I rea- 
son that Christ died for all of Adam's posterity, 
because in nature and providence God has provid- 
ed for all 
Nature and Providence. 

1. The sun shines for all. 

2. The stars are for all. 

3. The seasons are for all. 

4. The winds are for all. 

5. The fountains are for all. 

6. The rives flow for all. 

7. The showers are upon all. 
So Christ: 

1. He is our Sun — with healing. 

2. He is the bright and morning star. 

3. He giveth grace in his season. 

5. The Fountain in David's house. 

6. The river of life. 

7. Pour floods on the dry ground. 

There is no force in these analogies except 
on the ground that Christ died for all of Adam's 
posterity. 

Argument 8 : I base my eighth argument on 
the fact that all of Adam's posterity are under 
the law, and and all condemned' by the law, and 
Jesus died on the cross for all who are under law. 



252 Memoirs of ^lu. J. iV. nad. 

ALL UNDER LAW. Gal. 4:4. "But when the full- 
ness of time was come, God sent iorth his Son, made of a 
woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were 
under the law, that we might receive the adoption of 
sons." ' 

1. All men are under law. 

2. Christ died for tnose under law. 
Or: 

1. Christ died for the elect only. 

2. But Christ died for those under law. 

3. Therefore the elect only are under law. 
Argument 9 : I base my ninth argument on 

the fact that the gospel of salvation through 
Christ has been commanded to be preached to 
exery creature. 

GOSPEL TO ALL. Mark 16:15' "Go ye into all the world, 
and preach the gospel to every creature." 

Matt. 28:19, "Go ye therefore and disciple ail na- 
tions." 

Luke 24:47, "Repentance and remission of sins 
should be preached in his name among all nations. 

Acts. 1:8, Christ said, "Ye shall be witness unto me 
both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and unto 
the uttermost part of the earth." 

Acts 13:47, "The Lord commanded us, saying, E 
have set thee to be a light of the gentiles, that thou 
shouldst be for salvation unto the ends of the earth." 

1. To preach the gospel is either to offer 
salvation to the sinner in sincerity or to mock 
him. 

2. The Lord does not mock the sinner. 

3. Therefore he offers him salvation in fact. 

4. But this can only be done through 
Christ's death. 

Argument 10: My tenth argument claims 
that the universal proclamation of the gospel is 



Preparation on Hardshellism. 253 

based on the universal provision made in Christ's 
death, for the salvation of all of Adam's pos- 
terity. 

PROVISION FOR ALL. 2 Cor. 5:14: "We thus judge 
that if one died for all, then were all dead; and THAT 
HE DIED FOR ALL, that they which live should not 
henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died 
for them, and rose again." 

1. All for whom Christ died were already 
dead. 

2. All of Adam's posterity was dead. 

3. Then he died for all of Adam's posterity. 
Or: 

1. All for whom Christ died were already 
dead. 

2. The elect only were dead. 

3. Then he died for the elect only. 
Argument 11: My eleventh argument is 

based upon the truth that Christ is a propitiation, 
or satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world. 

PROPITIATION. 1 Jno. 2:2, "And if any man sin 
we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the 
righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not 
for ous only, but ALSO FOR THE WHOLE WORLD." 

1. Two distinct classes are clearly men- 
tioned. "Our" sins, and "The whole world." 

2. The word "propitiation" means satisfac- 
tion. God is satisfied, and offers pardon to the 
guilty rebels. 

3. But if they refuse Christ, then Christ 
judges and condemns them. 

Logical Statement. 

1. All for whom Christ died he made pro- 
pitiation. 



254 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

2. He made propitiation for the ivhole 
world. 
Or: 

1. All for whom Christ died he made propi- 
tiation. 

2. He made propitiation for the elect only. 

3. Hence he died for the elect only. 
This contradicts John. 

Argument 12 : I base my twelfth argument 
on the fact that Christ tasted death for every 
man. 

TASTED DEATH. Heb. 2:9, "We see Jesus who 
was made a little lower than angels by the suffering of 
death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the 
grace of God should TASTE DEATH FOR EVERY MAN. 
For it became him for whom are all things, in bringing 
MANY SONS unto glory ( to make the Captain of their 
salvation perfect through sufferings." 

1. The expression "every man" means Ad- 
am's entire posterity. 

2. The expression "many sons" may be lim- 
ited to the elect. 

3. It means, therefore, that Christ died for 
all, and many will by his death be glorified. 

"He is the Savior of all men, specially of them that 
believe." 1 Tim. 4:10. 

Argument 13: My thirteenth argument is 
based upon the fact that Christ is the ransom 
for all. 

RANSOM. 1 Tim. 2:3, "I exhort that prayer be made 
for all men, for this is good and acceptable in the sight 
of Go^ our Savior; who will have ALL MEN TO. BE 
SAVED, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 
For there is one God, and one Mediator between God 
and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ran- 
som FOR ALL to be testified in due time." 



Preparation on Hardshellism. 255 

1. God wants prayer made for all. 

2. He wills that all men be saved. 

3. Christ is a ransom for all. 
Logical : 

1. Christ died as a ransom for some of Ad- 
am's posterity. 

2. Christ gave himself as a ransom for all. 

3. Therefore he is a ransom for all of Ad- 
am's posterity. 

Or: 

1. Christ died for a part of Adam's pos- 
terity. 

2. He gave himself a ransom for all 

3. Hence he is a ransom for the elect only. 
Absurd and contradictory. 

Argument 14. My fourteenth argument is 
based on the fact that Christ compares the break- 
ing of his flesh to the giving of " bread" for the 
life of the world. 

BREAD. John 6:51, "I am the living bread which 
came down from heaven; if ANY MAN eat of this bread 
he shall live forever; and the bread I give is my flesh, 
which I will give for the LIFE OF THE WORLD." 

1. Natural bread is given to all of Adam's 
posterity. 

2. Jesus compares himself as a life-giving 
bread. 

3. Therefore he is for the life of Adam's 
posterity. 

Or: 

1. No man can obtain the natural bread 
without using the means necessary thereto. 

2. Neither can any obtain the spiritual 
bread without using the necessary means thereto. 



256 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

3. Yet in both places the bread is God's 
gift. 
Logical : 

1. To give his flesh was to die for some 
part of the world. 

2. He gave his flesh for the world — un- 
limited. 

3. Hence he gave his life for all the posteri- 
ty of Adam. 

Or, substitute, 

3. He died for the elect part of the world I 

Absurd, contradictory. 

Argument 15. In my fifteenth argument I 
claim that Christ died to save the world. 

, DIED TO SAVE THE WORLD. John 3:17, "God sent 
not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that 
the WORLD through him might be saved." 

1. The death of Christ was as extensive as 
his "mission. 

2. His mission was to save the world. 

3. Therefore he died for the world. 
Or: 

1. If the -"world" means mankind generally, 
then mankind generally might be saved — not 
shall be. 

2. If the word means the elect world, then 
the elect world MIGHT be saved — not shall be. 

3. That is equivalent to saying some of the 
elect may be lost! 

The expression might be saved, indicates a 
possibility, not a certainty. 
Logical : 

1. The word "world" must here mean man- 
kind in general — all of Adam's posterity. 



Preparation on dardshelUsnn^ 257 

2. Therefore he died for all of Adam's pos- 
terity. 

Argument 16: My sixteenth argument is- 
based on the fact that Christ came not to judge 
the world but to save it. 

NOT A JUDGE BUT A SAVIOR. John 12:47, 48, 
"If ANY MAN hear not my words, and believe not, I 
judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, hut 
TO SAVE THE WORLD. He that rejecteth me, and re- 
ceiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him." 

1. The word "world" must either mean the 
"elect world" or the world in general. 

2. That it does not mean the "elect world" 
is seen in the fact that some reject Christ. 

3. Hence he came to save the world in gen- 
eral. 

4. If any man is not saved, it will be be- 
cause he will not have life — he rejects Christ. 
Or: 

1. It may mean the "elect world." 

2. Some of them reject him. 

3. Therefore some of the elect are lost. 
Logical : 

1. To "judge the world," and "save the 
world," must mean the same. 

2. The salvation depends on hearing and be- 
lieving. 

3. If they are saved it will be because Christ 
died for them. 

4. If lost, because they believe not. 
Argument 17 : My seventeenth argument as 

serts that Christ came to s^ek ard siw the lost. 

'SAVE THE LOST. Matt. 18:11; Lake 19:10. "The 
Son of Man came to SEEK and SAVE THAT WHICH 
WAS LOST." 



258 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

1. Either fill of Adam's posterity is lost, or 

2. The elect only are lost. 

1. If all are lost, Christ seeks to save all. 

2. If the elect only are lost, he seeks to save 
them. 

If the elect only are lost, 

2. Then Christ died for them. 

3. And the rest need no Savior, as they are 
not lost. 

But— 

1. If all are lost, 

2. He died for all. 

3. And those who refuse to believe in him 
are the only ones who will not be saved. 

Argument 18: My eighteenth argument is 
ba^sed on the universal duty of repentance. 

All should repent. Mark 6:12 — "And the 
twelve went out and preached that men should 
repent." 

Luke 13:3, "Except ye repent ye shall ALL LIKE- 
WISE PERISH." 

Acts 17:30, "And the times of this ignorance God 
winked at; but row commandeth ALL MEN EVERY- 
WHERE TO RECENT." 

Luke 24:47 "Repentance and remission of sins should 
he preached in his name AMONG ALL NATIONS." 

1. "Repentance is useless without Christ's 
death. 

2. Yet all men are commanded to repent. 

3. God would not require a useless exercise. 

4. Therefore all men can be saved through 
Christ's death. 

Or: 

1. Christ died for the elect only. 

2. All for whom Christ died should repent. 



Preparation on Hardshellism. 259 

3. Therefore the elect only should repent. 
Absurd, and contradicts the Bible. 
Argument 19: My nineteenth argument is 
based upon the universal duty of prayer. 

PRAYER. Luke 18:1, "He spake a parable to this 
end, that MEN ought ALWAYS to pray, and not to faint." 

1 Tim. 2:8, "I will therefore that MEN PRAY EV- 
ERYWHERE, lifting up holy hands without wrath or 
doubting." 

1. It is the duty of all men to pray. • 

2. No prayer can avail except through 
Christ's death. 

3. God will hear every man who prays in 
faith. 

4. Therefore Christ's death avails for every 
man who calls on the Lord. 

Or: 

1. Prayer is a duty all men owe to God. 

2. Prayer is ineffectual except through 
Christ's death. 

3. The Lord will hear the elect only when 
they pray. 

6. Therefore it is the duty of the elect only 
to pray. 

Absurd and contradictory. 

Argument 20: My twentieth argument is 
based on the fact that all men are called upon to 
seek God. 

SEEK. Ezra. 8:22, " The hand of our God is upou 
ALL THEM FOR GOOD that SEEK HIM." 

Prov. 8:17, "I love them that love me, and THOSE 
who seek me early SHALL FIND ME." 

Isa. 55:6, "SEEK YE the Lord while he may b?. 
found, CALL YE upon him while he is near. LET THE 
WICKED forsake his way, and the UNRIGHTEOUS 



260 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

MAN HIS- THOUGHTS; and let HIM return unto Ue 
Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, 
for he will abundantly pardon." 

Matt. 7:7, "Ask and it shall be given you; SEElv 
and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto 
you. For EVERY ONE that asketh receiveth; and HE 
THAT SEEKETH FINDETH, and to him that knocked 
it shall be opened." 

1. All men should seek God. 

2. Seeking is vain without Christ's death. 

3. But every one that seeks him shall find 
him. 

4. Therefore he must have died for all men. 
Or: 

1. All men should seek God. 

2. The elect only can find him. 

3. Therefore the elect only should seek him. 
Absurd. 

Argument 21. My twenty-first argument is 
based on the fact that the invitations of the gos- 
pel are given in good faith to all men, and yet if 
Christ did not die for all, such invitations would 
be a solemn mockery to those left out. 

INVITATIONS. Isa. 45:22, "Look unto me, and be 
ye saved, ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH; for I :«m 
God, and there is none else." 

Matt. 1128, "Come unto me ALL YE THAT LABOR 
AND ARE HEAVY LADEN, and I will give you rest." 

Rev. 22: 17, "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come, 
and LET HIM that heareth say, Come. And LET HIM 
that is thirst come; and WHOSOEVER WILL, let 
Mm take the water of life freely." 

1. All of Adam's posterity is invited in 
come. 

?,. But ro one can come except through 
Christ's death. 



Preparation on HardshelUsm. 261 

3. He died for the elect only. 

4. Therefore the elect only are invited. 
Contradiction — absurd. 

Argument 22: My twenty-second argument 
is based upon the fact that the Holy Spirit is to 
reprove the world of sin, but this reproof would 
be useless if Christ did not die for the world. 

SPIRIT'S REPROOF. John 16:7, "If I go away 1 
will send the Comforter, and when he is come, he will 
reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of 
Judgment. Of sin, because they believe not on me; of 
righteousness because I go to my Father; of judgment, 
because the Prince of this world is judged." 

1. To reprove the sinner when there is no 
chance for his salvation is but to mock his help- 
lessness. 

2. But God does reprove, yet he does not 
mock. 

3. Therefore there is a chance of his sal- 
vation. 

4. But there would be no chance if Christ 
did not die for him. 

5. Hence Christ died for all the world. 

1. The Holy Spirit reproves the world of 
sin. 

2. Such reproof is useless without Christ'^ 
death. 

3 But Christ died for the elect only. 
4. Therefore the Spirit reproves the elect 
only. 

Absurd — contradicts first premise. 

Argument 23 : My twenty-third argument is 
V>ased on the fact that if Christ did not die for all 



262 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

of Adam's posterity, then no man can commit 
the unpardonable sin. 

UNPARDONABLE SIN. Mark 3:28, "All sin shall 
be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies where- 
with soever they shall blaspheme: but he that shall blas- 
pheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgivenness, 
but is in danger of eternal damnation." 

1. Sins can not be forgiven any man for 
whom Christ did not die. 

2. All sins may be forgiven all the sons of 
men — except one. 

3. Therefore he died for all the sons of men. 

1. All the sins of the non-elect are unpar- 
donable. 

2. None of the sins of the elect are unpar- 
donable. 

3. Hence the Savior was talking of a mat- 
ter that could not possibly happen. 

4. This would be to accuse Jesus of teach- 
ing nonsense. 

Or: 

1. The "sons of men" means the "elect on- 
ly" or men in general. 

2. If the elect only, then they may commit 
this sin. 

3. Hence the elect may be forever lost. 
Argument 24 : My twenty-fourth argument 

asserts that it would not be just to damn a man 
for unbelief if Christ made no provision for him, 
because if he had been a believer the case would 
not have been different. 

DAMNED FOR UNBELIEF. Mark 16:15, "He that 
believeth not shall be damned." 

John 3:36, "He that believeth not the Son shall not 
see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." 



Preparation on Hardshellism. 263 

. It would be useless for any man to be- 
lieve in Christ if Christ did not die for him. 

2. Yet if God damns every man that don't 
believe. 

3 Hence Christ must have died for every 
man. 

1. It is the posterity of Adam for whom 
Christ died. 

2. The posterity of Adam ought to believe. 

3. If any man believes not he should be 
damned for his unbelief. 

Or: 

1. Christ died for all who can believe. 

2. The elect only can believe. 

3. Hence the unbelieving elect shall be 
damned. 

Argument 25 : My twenty-fifth argument 
asserts that Christ arose from the dead for all of 
Adam's posterity, and that he could not legiti- 
mately rise for any for whom he had not died. 

"ROSE FOR ALL. 1 Cor. 16: c "But now is Christ 
risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits OF THEM 
THAT SLEPT. For since by man came death, by man 
came also the resurrection from the dead. For AS IN 
ADAM ALL DIE, even so in Christ SHALL ALL BE 
MADE ALIVE. But every one in his own order, Christ 
the first-fruits, and afterwards they that are Christ's at 
his coming." 

1. All of Adam's posterity died in Adam. 

2. All of Adam's posterity will rise through 
Christ. 

3. Everyone Christ represented in his res- 
urrection he had previously represented in his 
death. 



264 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

4. He represented the entire posterity in 
his resurrection. 

5. Therefore he represented them in his 
death. , 

Rom. 4:25, "Christ was delivered for our sins, and 
was raised again for our justification." 

Or: 

1. Christ died for the elect only. 

2. Christ arose again for all he died for. 

3. Therefore he arose for the elect only . 
Argument 26 : My twenty-sixth argument is 

based on the statement of Rom. 14:15. 

"Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ 
died." 

1. The word 'him" is this passage refers 
either to any man, a worldly man, who by partici- 
pation would be destroyed, or else — 

2. It refers to the elect only, the saved, and 
if the latter it teaches that the elect may be de- 
stroyed. 

3. If it means any man, then it teaches that 
Christ died for any man. 

1. Christ died for all of Adam's posterity. 

2. Some for whom he died may be destroy- 
ed by eating meat offered to idols. 

3. None of the elect can be destroyed. 

4. Therefore the number of the elect does 
not embrace all for whom Christ died. 

Argument 27 : My twenty-seventh argument 
is based on the statement of 1 Cor. 8:11. 

"And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother 
perish, FOR WHOM CHRIST DIED." 

1. The "weak brother" of this passage is 
either the natural, or national brother, yet in ig- 



Preparation on Hardshellism. 26"3 

norance, without spiritual knowledge, or, 

2. He is the elect, the saved brother. 

3. If the latter, then he may perish through 
the "knowledge" of his elect brethren. 

4. If the former, then Christ died for some 
besides the elect, and some of those for whom 
he died may perish. 

1. Christ died for all of Adam's posterity. 

2. Some for whom he died may perish on 
account of the "knowledge" or his brethen. 

3. None of the elect can perish. 

4. Therefore the number of the elect does 
not express the number/or whom Christ died. 

Argument 28 : My twenty-eigth argument is 
—That if all men cannot be saved through the 
death of Christ on the cross, it is either because — 

1. All men are unwilling to be saved, or 

2. Because God is not willing. 

But Jesus says, "And ye WILL NOT come to me 
that ye MIGHT HAVS LIFE." John 5:40. 

1. If men are unwilling to be saved, then 
they are to be blamed if lost. 

2. If God is unwilling to save any, then 
those thus left off are not to be blamed for being 
lost. 

Because — 

1. Those thus lost cannot control their wills 
anymore than the elect can. 

2. If God managed the wills of the elect, 
and not of the non-elect, then the non-elect are 
not to blame for the lack of a will they could 
not have. 

3. But Gcd d^es blame them and that shows 



266 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

they could have been willing if they had desired 
to be. 

4. But this life could only be attained 
through Christ's death. 

Argument 29: The non-elect do not reject 
Christ as a Savior ; he was never offered to them, 
according to my opponent's doctrine. 

BUT THEY DID REJECT HIM. Luke 17:25, "He 
must suffer many things, and be rejected of this genera- 
tion." 

Luke 9:22, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, 
and he rejected of the chief priests, and elders and scribes, 
and be slain, and be raised again the third day." 

1. No man can reject Christ to whom he is 
not offered. 

2. He is offered to no man except as a Sa- 
vior. 

3. The generation of the Jews rejected him. 

4. Therefore he was offered to them as a 
Savior. 

Again : 

1. Either Christ is not sincerely offered to 
all men as a Savior, and there is no sin in reject- 
ing him; 

2. Or, he is sincerely offered to all, and 
those who reject him should perish. 

3. Or, God mocks men with an insincere 
offer. 

4. Or, Christ died for all so that they can 
be saved. 

Argument 30: The protestations of God's 
interest in the race. 

John 3:16, "God so loved the world that he 
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believ- 



Preparation on Hardshellism. 267 

eth in him should not perish, but have everlast- 
ing life." 

1 John 4:14, "We have seen and do testify that the 
Father sent the SON TO BE THE SAVIOR OP THE 
WORLD. 

Ez. 33:11, '/AS I LIVE, SAITH GOD, I take 'NO 
PLEASURE in THE DEATH OF THE WICKED, but 
that the wicked TURN AND LIVE." 

Luke 13:34, "How often I would have GATHERED 
THY CHILDREN TOGETHER as a hen her brood, and 
ye WOULD NOT." 

2 Pet. 3:9, "Not willing that ANY SHOULD PERISH, 
but that ALL SHOULD COME TO REPENTANCE." 

1. Either these things were said of all men 
in general, or of the elect only. 

2. If of all men in general, it shows God 
made provision for all in Christ's death on the 
cross. 

3. If for the elect only, it shows that the 
elect have power to refuse the lord and perish. 

Argument 31 : The expressions, "the world, 7 * 
the "whole world," "all," "all men," "every man," 
and such like, are phrases that denote in the 
strongest possible terms the idea of universality, 
all of Adam's posterity, and they are frequently 
found connected with the gift of Christ. 

UNIVERSAL TERMS — instances where they occur: 
John 3:14-16; John 12:47, 48; John 6:51; 1 John 2:2; 
1 John 4:14; Heb. 2:9; 2 Cor. 5:14; Isa. 45:22; Matt. 11: 
28; Rev. 22:17; etc. 

But there is not a passage in the Bible that 
calls the "elect only," the "world,' 1 ' the "whole 
world," "every man," or anything of that nature. 

It must follow, therefore, that these phrases 



268 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

connected with Christ's death mean to show that 
he died for all of Adam's posterity. 

Argument 32 : If there is any portion of the 
human family for whom Christ did not die, then 
there is no possibility of their salvation. They 
must inevitably die an eternal death, not so much 
as the result of their conduct (for the elect have 
done wrong, and are yet u unconditionally saved' } ) 
but they die because of the divine good pleasure in 
their death! 

The "elect" are said to be unconditionally 
saved, and these were unconditionally left with- 
out a sacrifice, that they might inevitably perish. 

Who can accept such unsupported interpre- 
tations of the Bible as to charge such treatment 
of the merciful Father, upon his helpless crea- 
tures ? 

Logical statement: 

1. A portion of the human family was un- 
conditionally left without an interest in Christ's 
death. 

2. All men must be damned for whom 
Christ did not die. 

3. Therefore, a portion of the human fam- 
ily must be unconditionally damned. 

Or: 

1. Christ died for all of Adam's posterity. 

2. None will be damned but those who be- 
lieve not . 

3. Therefore the damnation of none can oe 
charged upon Christ. 

Argument 33 : If Christ did not die for all 
of Adam's posterity, then the entire scheme of 



Preparation on Hardshellism. 269 

redemption is a solemn mockery of man's help- 
lessness and hopeless fate. 

Such doctrine makes the plan of salvation a 
bungling attempt to save all, when provision was 
made only for afew. 

Such doctrine tantalizes the helpless repro- 
bates with an insincere offer of pardon that was 
never possible for them. 

Such doctrine pretends to preach a gospel of 
peace to the reprobate, and promise him salvation 
if he believes it, and threatens him with damna- 
tion if he don't, when there is not a word of trui h 
in the pretense! I His doom is unconditionally 
sealed beforehand. 

Such doctrine is an aspersion of the divine 
character, and a reflection on the sincerity and 
goodness of God, as well as a flat contradiction 
of the Bible. 

Argument 34 : Rom. 2 :3, "Thinkest thou, oh 
man, that judgest them which do such things, 
and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the 
judgment of God? Or despisest the riches of his 
goodness and forbearance and long suffering; nit 

KNOWING THAT THE GOODNESS OF GOD LEADE1 H 

thee TO repentance? But after thy hardness 
and impenitent heart treasureth up unto thyself 
wrath against the day of wrath and revelation 

OF THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT OF GOD." 

1. Here we see God's goodness leading a 
sinner to repentance. 

2. But repentance is unavailing without ;in 
interest in Christ's death. 

3. Yet this man rejected God's goodness,, 
and must endure God's wrath. 



270 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

4. But he alone is blamable for it. 

5. Yet is shows God would lead some men 
to repentance, through Christ, who will not be led. 

Argument 35: Christ died for the Jewish 
Nation, yet they were not all saved. 

John 11:49:52, "And one of them named Caiaphas, 
being the high priest that same year, said nuto them, 
Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedieut 
for us that one man should die for the people, and that 
the whole nation perish not. And this he spake not of 
himself; but being high priest that year, he prophesied 
that JESUS SHOULD DIE FOR THAT NATION; and 
NOT FOR THAT NATION ONLY, but that also he should 
GATHER TOGETHER IN ONE THE CHILDREN OF 
GOD THAT WERE SCATTERED ABROAD." 

1. It is specifically stated that he died for 
that nation. 

2. But some of that nation was lost — 

(1) The rich man was a Jew. 

(2) Judas was a Jew. 

(3) "Ye shall die in your sins, and whither 
I go ye cannot come." John 8 :21, was to 
Jews. 

(4) When he comes in the clouds, they that 
pierced him shall wail because of him. 
Rev. 1 :7. 

This shows that although Christ died for the 
whole world, yet all the world will not be saved. 

Those who reject him will be damned. 

Argument 36: Rom. 5:18, "As by the offense 
of one judgment came up all men to condemna- 
tion; even so by the righteousness of one the free 
gift came upon all men unto justification of life." 

Here we have the same "all men" in the of- 
fense, and in the justification. 



Preparation on Hardshellism. 271 

1. If the expression "all men" means the 
elect only, then the elect only are condemned. 

2. If it means all men in fact, then the 
righteousness of Christ justifies all of them to life. 

3. The life they get is this earthly life — "in 
him we live, move and have our being." Acts 
17 :28. 

4. But it shows Christ died for all. 

5 There is yet something for each to do be- 
fore they live the eternal life — they must believe. 

Argument 37 : Some pertinent questions. 

1. Was the love of God sufficiently com- 
prehensive to have embraced all of A dam's poster- 
ity? 

2. Was the death of Christ sufficiently meri- 
torious, in itself considered, to have saved all of 
Adam's posterity? 

3. Is the Holy Spirit sufficiently Almighty 
to quicken and cleanse all the race? 

4. Are the truths of the gospel sufficiently 
filled with divine good to make them a blessing 
to all the race? 

5. Ought all of Adam's posterity to repent 
of sin and believe in Christ? 

6. Will God judge all of Adam's posterity 
in the last day for their works in this life ? 

7. If any are lost, will it be their fault, or 
because God willed it? 

8. If God willed their damnation, can they 
be blamed? 

9. If it is their fault is it not because Christ 
died for them, and they rejected him? 



272 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

Argument 38. A Sufficiency. 

1. Christ's blood was rich enough in merit 
to save all. 

2. It would have cost no more to have saved 
the whole world, unconditionally, than to have 
saved a single man. 

3. God's love, and Christ's love, could have 
had no less, nor no greater, limit than Christ's 
blood. 

4. None of Christ's blood would have been 
shed in vain if he had died for the whole race, 
and yet a few only be saved. (1) The same sun 
that makes light for one traveler shines for the 
world — yet no light is wasted. (2) The waters 
of the sea are not wasted by their abundance. 

(3) The earth was not made in vain yet part of 
It is an Arabian desert. 

5. The only boundary possible to the ap- 
plication of Christ's blood is the will of the sinner 
himself. 

6. If he is finally lost he will have no one 
but himself to blame. 

Argument 39. An Objection Answered. 

"I pray not for the world." John 17 :9. But — 

1. Does the word "world" mean the "world 
in general" or the "elect world." 

2. If the "elect," then those now living were 
not prayed for, for they were of the world before 
conversion. 

3. These for whom he now prays had been 

"of the world." 

John 17:6, "I have manifested thy name unto the 
men thou gavest me out of the world." 

4. He dM pray for the world — 



Preparation on Hardshellism. 273 

Verses 20, 21, "Neither pray I for those alone, but 
for them also that shall believe on me through their word, 
that they all may be one, . . that the WORLD may 
believe thou hast sent me." 

If he prays for all men, then he died for all. 

Argument 40. Died for the Sheep. 

"I lay down my life for the SHEEP." John 10:15. 

All Sheep are not saved people. 

Isa. 33:6, "All we like sheep have gone astray." 

If he died specifically for the elect sheep, that 
is no reason why he did not also die for all others. 

What is a "lost" sheep? A lost sinner? 

Is that the sinner whose salvation is secure ? 

These "sheep" were the Jews. 

"Other sheep" — gentiles — I have, not of this 
fold. 

Argument 41 : The Lord Bought Them. 

2 Pet. 2:1, "But there were false prophets among 
the people, even as there shall be false teachers amongst 
you, who shall finally bring in damnable heresies, even 
denying the Lord that BOiUGHT THEM, and bring upon 
themselves SWIFT DESTRUCTION." 

1. These false teachers were non-elect sin- 
ners. Or, 

2. They were elect sinners. 

3. If non-elect — the Lord had bought them. 

4. If elect, they had apostatized, and were 
bringing on themselves swift destruction. 



NEGATIVE ARGUMENTS. 

SECOND PROPOSITION. 

The eternal salvation of the sinner is secured 
to him without any conditions whatever on his 



274 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

part. Lemuel Potter affirms; J. N. Hall denies. 
Note— 

1. It is the eternal salvation of the sinner 

2. This salvation is secured to him as ''the 
sinner!" A sinner, and yet securely saved// 
that is secured. 

3. Without any conditions whatever on the 

SINNER'S PART. 

4. Let him continue to be a sinner, and his 
eternal salvation stands secure just the same! 

5. "The sinner" may mean any sinner, or 
all sinners. 

6. "Conditions" are of two sorts: 

1. Conditions of procurement and 

merit. 

2. Conditions of acceptance without 

merit. 

This "sinner" has none whatever. 

Argument 1 : No passages for it. 

There is not a passage in the Bible that says 
the salvation of the sinner is without any condi- 
tions whatever on his part. It neither says it 
directly, by inference, nor by implication. 

1. God is a Sovereign, and does his will in 
heaven an in earth, but he does not relieve the 
sinner from his part of the task on that account. 

2. Salvation is by grace, wholly by grace, 
but that does not interfere with the acceptance of 
it by the sinner. It is grace to give a tramp bread, 
though he may have to go to the table to eat it. 

3. The cry of Arminianism does not excuse 
the truth. It is not Arminianism for the sinner 
to be willing to receive what God gives, 



Preparation on Hardshellism. 275 

Argument 2. Human Agency employed. 

The scheme of redemption has been so ar- 
ranged as to employ human agency in the salva- 
tion of men. 
Examples : 

1. The commission, Mark 16:15, and Matt. 
28:19. 

2. The conversion of Cornelius. 

3. The conversion of Saul. 
In this scheme we have — 

1. Preaching the gospel — by the preacher. 

2. Hearing it — by the sinner. 

3. Believing it — by the sinner. 

4. Repenting by the sinner. 

5. Trusting Christ by the sinner. 

6. Salvation for the sinner. 

Argument 3 : Hearing Is a Condition. 
Hearing the gospel is a condition of receiv- 
ing salvation on the part of all sinners. 

HEAR. Isa. 55:3, "Incline your ear and come unto 
me; HEAR and your soul SHALL LIVE." 

1. They are not yet alive. 

2. They are to hear and live. 

3. Suppose they won't hear — they won't 
live. 

REFUSED TO HEAR. Jer. 11:10, "They are turned 
back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which RE- 
FUSED TO HEAR MY WORDS; and they went after 
other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and Judah 
have broken my covenant which I made with their 
fathers." 

1. Refusing to hear, puts us in sin — keeps 
us there. 

2. Hearing is a condition of getting out. 



L76 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

■Luke 11:28, "And he said blessed are they that HEAR 
the WORD of God AND KEEP IT." 

Acts 15:7, "God made choice among us that the 
gentiles by my mouth should HEAR THE WORD OF 
THE GOSPEL AND BELIEVE." 

HEAR. Acts 3:22, 23, "The Lord your God shall 
raise up unto you a prophet like unto me; him shall ye 
HEAR in all things, and it shall come to pass that EV- 
ERY SOUL WHICH WILL NOT HEAR THAT PROPHET 
shall be destroyed from among the people." 

John 6:45, "It is written in the prophets, They shall 
all be taught of God. Every man therefore that hath 
HEARD and LEARNED of the Father cometh unto me." 

Rom. 10:14, "How, then, shall they call on him in 
whom THEY HAVE NOT BELIEVED? And how shall 
they believe on him of whom THTY HAVE NOT HEARD? 
A.nd how shall they HEAR WITHOUT A PREACHER? 

Verse 17, "So then faith cometh by HEARING, and 
HEARING BY THE WORD OF GOD." 

Argument 4 : Repentance a Condition. 

Repenting of sin is a condition of receiving 
salvation. 

Matt. 3:2, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is 
at hand." 

Mark 1:15, "Repent and believe the gospel." 

Luke 13:3, "Except ye repent ye shall all likewise 
perish." 

Acts 3:19, " Repent therefore, and be converted that 
your sins MAY BE BLOTTED OUT, etc." 

Acts 17:30, "God commandeth all men, everywhere, 
to repent." ? 

Acts 26:20, Shewed that they stould repent and 
turn to God, and do works meet for repentance." 

Acts 5:31, "Exalted to give repentance to Israel, and 
forgiveness of sins." 

Acts 11:18, "Then hath God also to the gentiles 
granted repentance unto l.fe." 

2 Tim. 2:26, "If God will grant repentance to the 
acknowledging of the truth." 



Preparation on Hardshellism. 277 

Argument 5. Prayer is a Condition. 
Prayer is made a condition of receiving sal- 
vation. 

Matt. 7:7, "ASK and ye SHALL RECEIVE." 
Acts 2:21, "Whosoever shall CALL on the name of 
the Lord SHALL BE SAVED." 

Rom 10:13, "For WHOSOEVER SHALL CALL on the 
name of the Lord SHALL BE SAVED." 

Luke, 18 : 14, The publican prayed, and went 
down to his house justified, 

Acrs 10: Cornelius prayed and he and his 
house were saved. 

The thief prayed, and he went that day to 
paradise. Luke 22 :42. 

Argument 6 : Faith in Christ a Condition. 

To believe in Christ is a condition of receiv- 
ing salvation. 

John 3:18, "He that believeth is not condemned: he 
that believeth not is condemned already because he hath 
not believed." 

John 3:36, "He that believeth on the Son hath ever- 
lasting life; he that believeth not the Son shall not see 
life." 

Acts 10:43, The prophets all testified that whosoever 
believeth in him should receive the remission of sins. 

Gal. 3:26, "Ye are all the children of God by faith. 

Acts 16:30, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
thou shalt be saved. 

Mark 16:15, "He that believed not shall be damned. 

John 20:31, "These are written that ye might believe 
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that believing, 
ye might have life through his name. 

Acts 13:39, "By him all that believe are justiged 
from all things from which they could not be justified 
by te law of Moses." 

Rom. 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith." 



278 Memoirs of Eld. J. A. Hall. 

Argument 7: Why Not Unconditionally Save 
All? 

If men and women are unconditionally saved, 
it would have been more in accord with the divine 
character for all mankind to be unconditionally 
saved. God could have saved all just as easy as he 
did a few, and if the whole proceeding was with- 
out conditions he certainly would have saved all. 

But God saves those men and women only 
who hear his word, repent of their sins, and be- 
lieve in Jesus Christ. 

If any man or woman fails to comply with 
these requirements he will not receive salvation. 

Yet these conditions do not 'procure salvation, 
nor merit it, but are necessary to its acceptance. 

Argument 8. Damnation of Infants. 

The damnation of the non-elect, infants and 
all, unconditionally, necessarily follows such doc- 
trine. 

1. If election is unconditional, and from 
eternity, God must have condemned some infants 
to endless perdition — or else. 

2. None but elect infants die in infancy. 

3. And if that is true it is a calamity to the 
world to take away the elect infants in their infan- 
cy, when they might have grown up to be useful 
and good, and allow the non-elect to live and be- 
come wicked and do harm. That is equivalent to 
saying that God puts a premium on sin. 

4. Augustine, the inventor of this doctrine, 
believed that non-elect infants were lost. 

Calvin, who revamped it, says "Elect infants 
dying in infancy are saved." 

The Dominicans believed non-elect infants 



Preparation on Hardshellism. 279 

are kept in Limbo, a way-station on the road to 
Purgatory. 

Argument 9 : Angels rejoice. 

If men were unconditionally saved before the 
foundation of the world, then explain — 

1. Why do the angels rejoice at a sinner's 
repentance (Luke 15:7), as his repentance has 
nothing at all to do with it? 

2. Why do they rejoice at his unconditional 
election, as that secures it forever? 

3. Or why not rejoice at' his birth, as that 
is the time he really enters upon his eternal salva- 
tion? 

4. Or why not rejoice when they first saw 
his name on the books of heaven? 

But the angels know that the time of a man's 
salvation is when he repents and turns to God. 
Argument 10: Some Logical Statements. 

1. If a sinner is saved unconditionally, he is 
saved in his sins 

2. If he is regenerated before he repents or 
believes he will have a heart that is averse to his 
own regeneration 

3. If he is regenerated unconditionally, and 
while yet a sinner, the love of God would be put 
into a heart that still loves sin. 

4. If the sinner is regenerated and saved 
after repenting and believing, then these were 
conditions necessary to that end. 

5. Not an instance of salvation on record 
where a sinner was ever saved, or has ever been 
promised salvation before he repented and be- 
lieved. 

Argument 11: A Family Business. 



280 p Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

It is to be observed that this idea of election 
being unconditional runs pretty much in families. 

1. Those families where the parents believe 
in it are likely to have children of the same faith. 

2 When the parents are elected the children 
are apt to get it also. 

3. In a neighborhood where there is a 
church of that faith, it gets most of the people 
elected. 

4. It keeps the preachers tolerably busy to 
keep the "elect" one elected, and get others elected. 

5. Stop the preaching and the teaching of 
it, and there will not be a believer in it on the 
face of the earth. 

Argument 12 : Phariseeism. 

This doctrine that Christ died for only a por- 
tion of mankind, and that "we" are the "uncondi- 
tionally elected ones" who were thus favored, is a 
reproduction of ancient Phariseeism. 

1. The Jews claimed to be the "sheep," the 
circumcision," and became disgustingly bigoted 
over it. 

But they were told there were other "sheep," 
not of that "fold," and that neither "circumcision 
nor uncircumcision" availed anything, but a "new 
heart." 

2. These same "sheep" of today boast them- 
selves in the same way as the "elect," who will 
be "unconditionally saved," while the rest of us 
are cast off ! 

Argument 13: Abrogates the Commission. 
1. The doctrines of unconditional salvation, 
and a limited atonement, abrogates and nullifies 



Preparation on Hardshellism. 28 L 

the duty of the churches to preach the gospel to 
every creature, and, 

2. Contradicts the command of the Savior 
to preach to all nations. 

3. It also charges the apostles with folly 
who went about "becoming all things to all men, 
if uy all means they might save some." 1 Cor. 

Argument 14: Terms of Salvation. Faith. 

This doctrine of unconditional salvation is an 
open contradiction of the Scriptures bearing on 
the point. 

Luke 7:50, "Thy FAITH HATH SAVED THEE, go 
in peace." 

Luke 18:42, Receive thy sight— thy FAITH hath 
SAVED THEE." 

1 Cor. 1:21, "It PLEASED G-OD by the foolishness 
of preaching, to SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE. 

ITim 4:16, "Take heed to thyself and to the doc- 
trine, for in so doing thou shalt SAVE THYSELF and 
THEM THAT HEAR THEE." 

Acts 16:30, "Sirs, what must I DO to BE SAVED? 
BELIEVE on the Lord Jesu Christ and thou SHALT BE 
SAVED. 

1 Cor 10:33, "Give none offense, neither to the 
JEWS nor to the GENTILES, nor to the CHURCH OF 
G-OD, even as I please ALL MEN in all things, not seek- 
ing my own profit, but the profit of many, that they MAY 
BE SAVED." 

1 Thess. 2:16, "The Jews forbade to SPEAK to the 
gentiles that they MIGHT BE .SAVED. 

2 Thess. 2:10, "Received not the love of the truth 
that they might be saved. 

Argument 15 : The Savior's Disgust Shown 
by the Great Supper. 

UNCONDITIONALLY ELECTED. Luke 14:16, 



282 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

"Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great sup- 
per, and bade many: 

"17. "And sent his servant at supper time to say ta 
them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now 
ready." 

THEY ALL MADE EXCUSE. 18. ."And they all 
With one consent began to make excuse. The first said 
unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must 
needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. 

19. "And to another said, I have bought five yoke of 
oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me ex- 
cused." 

20. "And another said, I have married a wife, and 
therefore I cannot come." 

CALL IN THE NON-ELECT. 21. "So the servant 
came and shewed his lord these things. Then the master 
of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quick- 
ly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in 
hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the 
blind. 

22. "And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou 
hast commanded, and yet there is room." 

CALL IN MORE OF THEM. 23. "And the lord said 
unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, 
and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." 

THE "ELECT" LOST. 24. "For I say unto you, 
That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of 
my supper." 

1. This parable illustrated the boasted "elec- 
tion" of the Jews. 

2. And shows that Christ was disgusted 
with them. 

'6. And the provision made for the "non- 
elect." 

4. And these "non-elect" were the ones most 
cordially pressed to come. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED. 

Gentlemen Moderators, Ladies and Gen- 
tlemen : — I feel that I can voice the sentiments 
of this large audience this morning in saying that 
we should not forget a feeling of gratitude to the 
Father in Heaven. It occurs to me that a sugges- 
tion of our dependence and the maintenance of a 
spirit of humility and an acknowledgement of di- 
vine providence should always be recognized as 
one of the important impressions to be made on 
our hearts when we have met together as we 
have today, and as we have been doing from day 
to day every morning fresh from our beds of 
slumber. It is proper that we should keep in 
word, who gave us this opportunity to study it. 

I am very glad to greet you this morning un- 
der the circumstances. My brother is in the affir- 
mative. He has made a statement that compre- 
hends much. His speech is partly in reference to 
other subjects. He has been able in the main to 
put in the length of the minutes as they went by. 
He affirms before you this morning that there is 
coming a time when God will punish a portion ot 
the human family with total destruction ; there is 
to be an entire extinction of their being. 

You will recognize the fact that my brother 



284 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

stands in relation to this question in a peculiar 
light, because he has always affirmed during the 
debate the prac;'cal extinction of the entire hu- 
man family. According to the argument that has 
already been before us, at death everything that 
constitutes man passes into a condition of extinc- 
tion. So the brother really has, during the debate 
in the various lines of thought he has presented, 
affirmed that there is a total extinction of the hu- 
man family. I wonder why in the name of sense,, 
since God has extinguished the whole business, 
why not let us sleep and be done with it ! What is 
the need of calling up the wicked to have them cle 
stroyed? Especially why should God bring out 
any of these people to extinguish them the sscond 
time? He proposes to let off these savages, these 
heathen, and all those people who have never 
heard of the gospel, that haven't heard the law, 
and that don't know the commandments of Moses, 
by just letting them die and be done with it and 
end their existence. And in his view everybody 
that has sought to be religious, that has become 
Christadelphians or Baptists, anybody that has 
believed in Christ, if they are overcome by tempr 
tation, if something or other inherent in their na- 
ture and which they have no ability to subdue, 
leads them away, and they go down to the grave 
lamenting their mistake, yet God calls them back 
to life again, and punishes them for their slight 
mistake, and allows the grossly wicked to quietly 
sleep on forever! Why does God preserve these 
wicked? They have made this comparatively 
slight mistake — why did not God let those sinners 
remain dead? He has extinguished them utterly 



Punishment of the Wicked. 285 

in death,, as he tried to prove in a part of his ar- 
gument. Why does God want to preserve these — 
raise them up for the purpose of giving them an- 
other sentence of death and destroying them 
twice? 

On this point we are agreed ; there is going to 
be a day of judgment; that Jesus Christ will re- 
turn to this earth, and that all the nations of the 
earth will be gathered before him, and it will be 
such a time of trouble as we never have seen. He 
says there will be left nations here and they are 
going to be taught to fear the Lord. We agree on 
that. These will be on th the earth, the dead and 
living both, those that have been dead and those 
among the dying. The judgment is going to de- 
termine that some people have got to be punished ; 
some are going to be blessed, and some are going 
to be punished. The point is, what is that punish- 
ment? I say that the entire human family will be 
present. I believe, like John did when he looked 
forward and saw the judgment seat, and all the 
dead, small and great, were present. 

The brother proved this morning that hades 
involves the grave; well, the grave and death and 
the sea give up their dead. I believe they will all 
be there. Now the question is, What kind of pun- 
ishment is going to be inflicted on them ? He says 
it will be total extinction ; I say it will be destruc- 
tion, but not in the sense of total extinction. Can 
it be said of a man that he is to consume and still 
not be utterly extinct? Can it be said' of a people 
that they are destroyed and yet any of those peo- 
ple remain? You see the force of this argument 
is going to depend on the definition you give to 



286 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

those words, destroy, perish and consume. It 
these words do not mean absolute extinction, they 
do not prove my brother's proposition. 

Now just for the sake of the comparison let 
us turn and see if God's word is intending to ex- 
press utter extinction whenever it uses these 
words, destroy, perish, consume. I want to call 
your attention to Acts 13 :41, "Behold ye despisers 
and wonder and perish, for I work a work in your 
days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe 
though a man declare it unto you." Here are 
wicked people, and they are listening to a man 
preaching, and while looking in their faces Paul 
announces the fact that they "behold and wonaer 
and perish," and there are the folks living and 
breathing still, and listening to a man talk while 
they perish. 

Paul says, "Though our outward man perisa 
yet our inward man is renewed day by day." Did 
his outward man perish? He said it did. My 
brother says that if a thing perishes it is utterly 
extinct. We agreed on the other proposition that 
the outer man represented the body, and Paul says 
it is perishing every day. Is it extinct? It could 
not have been, for Paul kept on preaching and 
writing afterwards. If this is what extinction 
means then I really beli°ve we can have peooie 
nerish just like my brother read it f^orn the dec- 
laration of Isaiah and the Psalmist and Job, and 
still have something left. 

2. Cor. 2:15, "For we are unto God a sweet 
ssvor in Christ in them that a^e saved and in them 
that perish." Some are saved? Yes. And some 
perish? Yes. A sweet savor to both? Yes. It 



Punishment of the Wicked. 287 

would seem that some who "perish" are still able 
to appreciate gospel truth. 

"With all deceivableness of unrighteousness 
in them that perish because they receive not th e 
love of truth." Now, here they are counted as 
perishing and a message is delivered to them that 
they might be saved. They were considered as 
perishing and yet they were alive. I would just 
like to have that examined by my friend. I have 
taken time to look up more than forty others like 
that to prove that the word "perish" does not 
carry with it the idea of total extinction. I am 
going to show my dealing directly with it. I want- 
first to deal with what is essential to the subject. 

Let us see about the word destroy; does it 
mean total extinction? In Job 9:22, "He destroy- 
eth the perfect and the wicked." You have got 
the whole thing there and Job said it. Mr. Wil- 
liams could not find anywhere except where the 
wicked were destroyed. But I find where the 
perfect and the wicked both are destroyed; are 
both extinct? Then you might just as well give 
up the whole thing; you will never get there. 

Job 15:5, "I will bereave them of children; 
I will destroy my people." God says he is going 
to destroy his people as well as the wicked. Does 
the word destroy there mean to become extinct'.'' 
He is trying to prove to us that God's people are 
jsroing to be sav°d, and God says they are going 
to be dr^troved. What does the word destroy 
mean? Jt simplv means God's divine judg- 
ment cormner on them; that they are p-oing to be 
puni^^d in cons^nuence of wrong domo-. 

Jer. 23:1, "Woe be unto the pastors that de- 



283 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

stroy the sheep of my pasture." What pasture? 
God's pasture. Don't you remember the passage 
the brother has been on that has so much to say 
about sheep until the whole debate smells like 
mutton ? Here are sheep, and these sheep are the 
Lord's people, and he says the pastors of these 
sheep destroyed them. Are they going to die like 
sheep and be done with it? What a mistake a 
man makes to take some specific line of thought 
in God's word and found a theory upon that with- 
out inquiry and comparison ! 

Hoseal3:9, "0 Israel, thou hast destroyed 
thyself, but in me is thine help." Israel has done 
destroyed itself, yet the brother is hoping he will 
in some way get the Jews back to Canaan. 

Job 19:10, "He hath destroyed me on every 
side, and I am gone." There it is. Job is de- 
stroyed and gone. That is like what he tried 
to tell us about in the other question. Job is de- 
stroyed and gone, for he says so. Does this word 
"destroyed" mean extinct and gone? You cer- 
tainly could not get language stronger than that, 
yet he was still in the world. Don't you see the 
mistake the brother is making in the use of these 
three words? I am really replying to the whole 
line of proof in finding out the definition of these 
three words, and I am giving the definition from 
God's standpoint. 

Now we will turn and see what is the mean- 
ing of the word consumed. Psa. 6:7, "Mine eye 
is consumed because of grief." Was David's eye 
burned out? That is what the brother wants the 
word to mean when it is applied to people. They 
become combustible material and go up in smok^ 



Punishment of the Wicked. 289 

like the fat of lambs. Did his eyes go up like the 
fat of lambs? If the psalmist's eye was con- 
sumed it went up in smoke. Did David's eye burn 
up? The thought is ridiculous. 

Psa. 31 :9, "Mine eye is consumed with grief." 
Is that all? Listen: "Yea, my soul and my belly 
. . . My bones are consumed." What is left of 
him? His eyes,, his soul, his stomach and all his 
bones are gone, burned up, consumed, he says so. 
My brother finds the word consumed in another 
place, and he says they are burned up and all 
gone. If it was so in that case, wouldn't it be so 
in David's case? Is he burned up? No. What 
does he mean? A fierce judgment has come and 
he is suffering. I grant you the words consume, 
destroy perish, carry with them the idea of terri- 
ble calamity, but they do not carry the thought of 
extinction of being. Look still further. 

Jer 5:6, "Thou hast consumed them but they 
have refused to receive correction; they have 
made their faces harder than a rock; they h&ve 
refused to return." How could they return if 
they had had been consumed and utterly de- 
stroyed? 

Psa. 102:3, "My days are consumed like 
smoke; my bones are burned as an hearth." 
There is David going up as smoke just like he 
said the wicked would go, as the fat of lambs. 
Do you believe it means his extinction? There 
isn't a person here who would say so ; my brother 
wouldn't say so, yet he has got to say it if he 



290 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

gets in his argument for the extinction of the 
wicked. 

Isa. 66:7, "Thou hast consumed us because 
of our iniquities." There is a nation consumed 
on account of sin, and yet after they have been 
consumed they are praying to God, and saying 
that they have been consumed on account of their 
iniquities — the very sort of folks my brother said 
God utterly destroyed. But now we read, "0 
Lord, thou art our Father; we are the clay and 
thou the potter; and we are all the work of thy 
hand; be not wroth very sore, Lord, neither 
remember iniquity forever: behold, see we be- 
seech thee, we are all thy people." And yet they 
had been burned up on account of sin! I would 
be willing to leave to this intelligent audience the 
merits of this whole topic without making an- 
other remark. When you understand the terms 
of God's Word and know what he is talking about 
then you do not have any difficulty in understand- 
ing what is said. But I now wish to look at some 
of the Scriptures my friend used, to see if we 
can discover their meaning. 

Job 20:5-8, "The triumphing of the wicked 
is short." The Scripture he quoted here says that 
the wicked shall perish. What does the word per- 
ish mean — extinction of being? Does the Apostle 
Paul become extinct when his outward man per- 
ishes? What does it mean? Trouble, affliction, 
chastisement, correction. Will that be forever? 
It will ; that is what I say. Listen : "He shall flee 
away as a dream and shall not be found; yea he 
shall be chased away as a vision of the night. 



Punishment of the Wicked. 291 

The eye which saw him shall see him no more." 
Who? The wicked; the people who have known 
him here they will not know him any more. Why? 
Because he dies. Yet a little time and he is going 
to fail and die and you will bury him, and then 
you will not any of you see him any more. How- 
ever, he has not become extinct; he has simply 
gone into another state of being. 

"The transgressors shall be destroyed to- 
gether." I believe it. What does destroy mean? 
Does it mean extinction of being? It simply 
means the visitation of divine displeasure on 
them. You have got to let God explain himself. 
These transgressors shall be put under the afflic- 
tion of God together. 

Psa. 37 :10, "For yet a little while the wicked 
shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider 
his place and it shall not be." My brother saw 
a difficuty in this passage and took quite a little 
time to explain that the "place" really would be 
but that he would not be in; the place. If a town 
like Ingersol, Mo., peopled by infidels is wiped 
out, the infidels are gone, but the place is still 
there. The brother had to explain that he did 
not mean all he said about the place, but he did 
mean nearly all he said about the wicked. But 
David said the very same thing about them both ; 
the man will not be there and the place will not 
be there. If you find the place which still sur- 
vives, by the very same argument I will find the 
man still survives. 

Psa. 38:20, "But the wicked shall perish/' 
I have found where the righteous "perish;" did 
they become extinct? "The enemies of the Lori 



292 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

shall be as the fat of lambs." I have found where 
the righteous were consumed, even David was 
consumed in smoke, and his bones were burned. 
Did he become extinct? No sir. If these wicked 
people can consume and still have conscious being, 
surely we may believe it when the same man talks 
about being himself consumed, and yet he didn't 
become extinct. Neither did they. 

Psa. 114:20, "The Lord preserveth all them 
that love him; but all the wicked will he destroy." 
That is exactly the character the Lord proposes 
to preserve, the righteous, but he proposes to de- 
stroy the wicked. The word destroy does not 
mean to totally extinguish; if it does, then he 
takes his own people and destroys them. When 
I find God says he is going to preserve the right- 
eous and destroy the wicked, I understand that 
he has blessings for the righteous and curses for 
the wicked, and that they both are to continue in 
oeing, one under a blessing and the other under 
u curse. That is what the word destroy means 
as -you see it applied in the passages I have al- 
ready cited. 

"Let the sinners be consumed— where— out 
of the earth." But, brother, you have got to find 
where the sinners are consumed after the day of 
judgment. The Psalmist is talking about sinners 
being consumed out of the earth. If this is not 
the place for them, then there is another place 
for them? We are going to find out directly. 

2 Pet. 2:12, "But these as natural brute 
beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil 
things that they understand not; and shall utter- 



Punishment of the Wicked. 293 

ly perish in their own corruption." This is the 
only passage quoted out of the New Testament 
through the deabate. The brother has been back 
in the Old Testament among the highly poetical 
and figurative expressions of those writers. Ev- 
erybody recognizes the characteristics of these 
writers, it is not anything against the divine au- 
thorship of the book. These writers talked about 
themselves perishing, burning and being con- 
sumed in the same way that they talked about 
the wicked. The things they said about the wicked 
they said about themselves. If there was utter 
extinction for themselves there will be for the 
wicked, but not otherwise. How uncertain is a 
man's standpoint, the foundation on which he 
stands, if he has to make them the basis of hi* 
doctrine. 

"But these as natural brute beasts, made to 
be taken and destroyed" — and who made them? 
God is our Maker. "Made to be taken and de- 
stroyed!" Has God made people to be taken 
and destroyed? Does he mean that? I suppose 
not. "They shall utterly perish in their own cor- 
ruption." What does that mean? Does it mean 
extinction ? No, because in the 17th verse of the 
very same chapter, he speaks of the same people, 
"to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for- 
ever. ,, Utterly destroyed means that they are re- 
served for the mist of darkness forever. 

The brother came with the question. Why 
should God wish to preserve the wicked? God 
reserves the wicked for the time of judgment, fcr 
the mists of darkness into which they enter. We 
will see what that is after awhile. 



294 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

That point about the meaning of sheol ; there 
is no issue between us on that. I do not believe 
the word sheol in itself considered refers to the 
punishment of the wicked, nor hades either. Sheol 
and hades mean the death state and include both 
departments, good and bad. Jacob and Abraham 
went down to sheol. Lazarus and the rich man 
went down to hades, the under world, the death 
world, but they were in different departments of 
that death world. 

Let me follow some other independent lines 
the brother presented. First, why should God 
preserve the wicked forever? I answer: God 
does not preserve, God reserves. I might as well 
ask him, why does God preserve the fallen an- 
gels which are kept reserved in chains of dark- 
ness unto the judgment of the great day? Why 
does God keep them? Why not let them go down 
into non-entity? Why preserve criminals for 
punishment for life in our penitentiaries? Every 
essential of moral truth demands that the guilt 
shall indicate the punishment meted out. They 
are preserved for the exhibition of justice, for 
the manifestation of God's displeasure, for the 
vindication of the majesty of the law. That is the 
reason they are kept. 

Then he said that in the garden of Eden the 
Lord said, "In the day that thou eatest thereof 
thou shalt surely die. I have been showing you 
on a former proposition that on the day they ate 
of it they were separated from God in their moral 
natures ; while in their fleshly nature they became 
dying creatures. The brother said that God placed 
a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of 



Punishment of the Wicked. 295 

life lest man should eat and live forever anyhow. 
But the question of the immortality of the soul 
was not involved in the eating of the tree of life. 
The flaming sword was placed there to prevent 
fleshly and corrupt nature from becoming immor- 
tal. God did not want man to live a perpetual 
existence as an earthly being. 

Jer. 17:27, "I will kindle a fire in the gates 
thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jeru- 
salem and it shall not be quenched." There is a 
fire burning that shall not be quenched; yet it 
has gone out ; it is not burning. First, let me say 
that may mean an expression of the wrath God is 
going to visit on the people in the last days. It 
was not merely to devour the palaces of Jerusa- 
lem, but God was going to kindle a fire to burn 
those people, which should never bequenched. 
The very fact that this fire could not be quenched 
is proof of the fact that there is fuel there on 
which it could feed. You do not talk about fire 
without fuel, and the fuel here is those wicked 
kings and rulers, the leaders of the people of Is- 
rael. God is going to remove them and give them 
as fuel for a fire that shall never be quenched. 
If they are not yet burning then that fire has got 
no fuel. 

Then, again, he is to gather the wheat into 
his garner and burn up the chaff with unquench- 
able fire. There is this distinction, in the case 
where you burn chaff it is easily consumed and 
you can quench it; if you do not it will go out of 
itself; but when you come to burn spirits, though 
they burn like chaff according to the comparison, 
they do not consume ; they are not utterly extinct ; 



296 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

consequently you have got fuel and a fire that you 
cannot quence. Further he speaks of this worm 
that dieth not and the fire that is not quenched. 
This gives the idea that Jesus Christ had of hell 
fire. In looking on the fires of Hinnom, south of 
Jerusalem, he used it as an illustration of the 
unquenchable fires of hell. He did not use the 
word hades, but the word Gehenna. That word 
occurs twelve times in the New Testament, and 
eleven times it is used by Christ — once by James. 
That word Gehenna is the Greek term, for the 
valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, in which a 
fire was kept burning constantly to consume the 
carcasses, and the worms were always there de- 
vouring the dead bodies. A man could look at 
it one day and the fires were burning; the next 
day and it was the same thing, and the next year 
it was the same thing, and for all generations 
back it had been the same thing. The law re- 
quired that fire should never go out, and the 
worms would never die. They were there writh- 
ing in those burning tortures. Looking on this 
scene, Jesus Christ said, Do you see that? That is 
what I am talking about. Do you see living br- 
ings writhing in the flames that never go out? 
That being never dies, but lives and burns on for- 
ever. 

Let me call attention to a criticism on that 
point. Telideo is the Greek word for end\ ou- 
teluteo means absolutely unending; there isn't 
any end. This word is used three times and ev- 
ery time it refers to that worm that endlessly 
dies. It dies today, tomorrow, next week, next 
year, next century, next thousand years. It never 



Punishment of the Wicked. 297 

dies, it is endlessly dying. What is the meaning 
of that word that Jesus says is the picture of 
hell? It is ou-teluteo, meaning an absolute end- 
lessness of the dying state. It is this Gehenna 
I am talking about, always devouring yet never 
devoured ; always consuming yet never consumed. 
If there should come a time when there would be 
no worm, when all the fuel was consumed, then 
there will be no fire. You therefore have a fire 
and a worm and Jesus says it is a picture of hell. 
You cannot quench the fire and the worm cannot 
die. That is Christ's awful picture. 

In one quotation the brother made, the 49th 
Psalm, it is said "death shall feed on them." I 
should like to know what death is going to feed' 
on if they are to become extinct? What is going 
to feed on them? Death; yet he says they go out 
like a candle blown out, perished forever. The 
wicked go to the grave and death feeds on them ; 
if they are extinct how can death feed on them? 
That is like the undying worm. A consuming 
fire has got to have something to consume or else 
the fire goes out and the worm dies. 

Notice that question of annihilation. The 
brother sa:d atoms could not be destroyed. There 
is a theory in philosophy about the indestructibil- 
ity of matter. That being the case there is no such 
thing as a real destruction of the human body, 
since the human body is made up of indestructible 
material. The material may change form but it 
cannot be destroyed. I do not believe the wicked 
are going to have mortal bodies. In the resurrec- 
tion we are .erring to have the same identical ma- 
terial in another form. 



298 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

He says that hades is the Greek word hell, 
and simply mc&'ns an invisible place. He says 
among the English when you go out to plant po- 
tatoes you "nelly the potatoes," that is, they 
bury the potatoes in the ground. Now, look out! 
You will have a spirit the first thing you know, 
for there is life in those buried potatoes, else 
those Englismen would never "nelly the pota- 
toes!" According to your own illustration it is 
possible for life to be in hades.' 

Now you come to the innocent idiot throwing 
a babe into the water, and the Newfoundland 
dog rescues it, and we have the fond mother hug- 
ging and kissing the dog and kicking the idiot. 
Just think of the superiority of the brute over 
the man! I said in my soul, I wonder if the 
brother has come to a point where he can look 
with absolute contempt upon the infirmities of 
humanity! That idiot is a human being. A fa- 
ther and mother have watched over him and 
cared for him and wept over his deformity. His 
infirmity has caused human sympathy to flow 
out. We have got here a system of religion that 
compaiv him with a brute. There is something 
revolting about that idea, that would tend to make 
a man cruel towards helpless beings. But there 
is one thing true of that poor idiot that never 
will be true of the dog. When the resurrection 
time shall come, and defective mortality shall un- 
dergo the change to immortality, that poor im- 
becile will awake to a glorious crown of life, to 
rejoice with and bless the hearts of that poor 
father and mother who have watched over him 
through his earthly life with such solicitude, 



Punishment of the Wicked. 299 

while the dog will sleep on as a brute forever. 
There is coming a time when the deformities of 
the flesh and the infirmities of these bodies shall 
be changed into the glorious fashion of the body 
of Christ. I say such a religion, such a gospel as 
the brother brings to us is a fearful thing to con- 
sider. I wonder if it is not cruel in God that he 
should let the poor idiot live. His divine provi- 
dence takes charge of him? Why didn't he take 
the helpless child away when a babe and never 
afflict the family by the fearful life he has lived? 
Was it cruelty or was it love? 

I have now followed the brother through his 
speech from one end to the other. Now I want 
to call attention to the fact we have already con- 
sidered, Matt. 10:28, "And fear not them which 
are able to kill the body but are not able to kill 
the soul, but rather fear him which is able to de- 
stroy both soul and body in hell." The word hell, 
there, is Gehenna; Jesus says the soul and body 
are to be destroyed in Gehenna. What do you 
mean by destroy? You mean to afflict, punish, 
Just like it means wherever it occurs in reference 
to man. You cannot have total extinction of a 
human being because man is immortal and God 
only could destroy immortality. God can do it be- 
cause he constructed man. You have got a hu- 
man being who has a body man can kill, and you 
have got a man with a soul man cannot kill. God 
can destroy both when it is his will. 

I want now to call attention to the words em- 
ployed by the Holy Spirit in speaking of the pun- 
ishment of the wicked. 

1. Sheol and hades are words which simply 



300 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

represent the death state, without indicating the 
particular condition of happiness or misery that 
may characterize it, unless connected with some 
other word to express it. 

2. Tartar osas is the verbal form of the 
Greek word Tartarus, and represents the lower 
portion of the infernal regions, where is to be 
found the abode of the damned. We have a use 
of this word in 2 Pet. 2:4, when the inspired 
apostle says: "The angels that sinned were cast 
down to tartarus, and delivered into chains of 
darkness to be reserved unto judgment." 

3. Gehenna — the valley of Tophet. This 
was a valley south of Jerusalem into which the 
garbage of the city was cast, and in which per- 
petual fires were burning, and where the devour 
ing worm was always to be found. This was 
Christ's peculiar word for "hell," as he used it 
eleven times out of the twelve times it occurs. It 
presented to the mind a picture of a living crea- 
ture (a worm) w~ : thing perpetually in a consum- 
ing flame. To Christ's mind it reppresented the 
punishment of the wicked. 

4. Asbeston is a word occurring seven times 
and means "unquenchable, inextinguishable." It 
occurs in Matt. 3:12, where the wicked are rep- 
resented as chaff in an 'unquenchable fire." Also 
in Luke 3:17 and Mark 9:43. 

5. Teleutao is the Greek word that means 
to "end," to "come to an end." The word "ou' y 
is the Greek word for "not;" so the compound 
word ou-teletao means "endless," "unending." It 
is the strongest Greek term to express the idea 
of absolute endlessness. It occurs three times, 



\- 



Punishment of the Wicked. 301 

Matt. 5:43; 9:46, 68. In each case it represents 
the worm that endlessly dies. Look when you 
would into that consuming fire in Hinnom and 
you would see that dying worm. 

6. Aion is derived from aei, which means 
"ever," and on, which means "being, existing." 
Hence its literal meaning is "ever-existing," or 
"always-being." Our word "forever'' comes from 
this root, as does our word "eternal." Wherever 
we find this word aion, therefore, we find endless 
being. Now, let me call your attention to a few 
passages where this word is used to describe the 
punishment of the wicked. 

Rev. 14:11, "The smoke of their torment as- 
cendeth forever and ever" — eis ton ionas ton- 
aionon. This is the strongest Greek phraseologv 
that can possibly be employed to express the end- 
lessness of the duration of the punishment to 
which the wicked will be subjected. David talked 
about burning and consuming like the fat of 
lambs; let us see about the smoke. This is after 
the resurrection and after the judgment. "And 
the smoke of their torment ascended up forever 
and ever." When will the smoke of their torment 
cease to ascend? Never. 

Again, Rev. 19:3, "And the smoke (of Baby- 
lon) rose up forever and ever." Babylon, the 
great spiritual deceiver has come into judgment, 
and God sends them to the pit, and their smoke 
goes up and up and up, forever and ever. God 
says it. Do you believe it? Eis tons aionas ton 
aionon. 

Rev. 20:10, "And the devil that deceived 
them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, 



302 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

where the beast and the false prophet are; and 
they shall be tormented day and night forever 
and ever." This also is after the resurrection. 

Jude 13, "To whom the blackness of darkness 
is reserved forever." 

2 Pet. 2:17, "To whom the mist of darkness 
is reserved forever." What is this darkness and 
place of torment? What is the tartarus that is 
reserved for some? It is a place of perpetual, 
conscious misery, in the lowest part of the death 
state. Let me say right here, I do not believe 
the punishment of the people will be in literal 
fire. I do not believe God's word intends to rep- 
resent men in a condition of literal fire, but he 
does take literal fire as a picture of what his 
punishment is. 

Now then, I want to find out about the peo- 
ple in this condition of suffering. Let us see if 
God's word says there are any there. Jude 7, 
"Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities 
about them . . . are set forth for an example, 
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." They 
are wicked like the angels that kept not their first 
estate and are reserved in everlasting chains un- 
der darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 

2 Peter 2:16, "These are wells without wa- 
ter, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to 
whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever." 

Surely, so far as the bodies of the Sodomites 
are concerned, they went to ashes until the res- 
urrection; their spirits, Jude says, are suffering 
the vengeance of eternal fire as an example. We 
had better take it and look at it. We may appeal 
to sympathy, but God says, Look ! God is able to 



Punishment of the Wicked. 303 

pronounce judgment on those who violate his law, 
and who are we, to pronounce judgment on God 
as to the matter of the severity of his judgment? 
We do not dare to be both criminal and judge. 
We do not believe these people of Sodom and Go- 
morrah are going to suffer as much as those who 
have had greater opportunities. Jesus himself 
said that it would be more tolerable for Sodom 
and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for 
the people he preached to. 

Again, we have the example of the rich man 
and Lazarus. The brother said he would talk 
about it but he didn't. There were two men 
alive in this world, Christ said, one was rich and 
the other poor. God's word does not call this a 
parable, though so far as I am concerned, or as 
the argument is concerned, I do not care whether 
it is counted so or not. But it reads like the history 
of men Jesus Christ knew. He is telling his dis- 
ciples what is going to take place on the othei* 
side of death. This rich man had plenty and 
lived in luxury. By and by he died and was bur- 
ied, and in hades — that is the under world, the 
unseen state, where you cannot see him — he 
opened his eyes and he was in torment, and he 
saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus on his bosom. 
And he besought him to send Lazarus to dip his 
finger in water and cool his tongue, for he was 
tormented in the flames. 

Here was a man who had lived in this world 
and gone out of it. He had had plenty while he 
was here and lived as other rich men lived, but in 
a little while he died and then where did he go? 
Jesus Christ says he lifted up his eyes in hades. 



304 Memoirs of Eld, J. N, Hall 

Was Lazarus also in hades'! Yes. Now what 
was their condition in the unseen state? One is 
tormented and the other comforted. The rich 
man calls for water to cool his tongue and he is 
refused. There is no consolation there. But 
there is consciousness there on the part of those 
in the unseen state. 

I. Pet. 3:18-20. We have here the refer- 
ence to the spirits in prison which once were dis- 
obedient when the long suffering of God waited 
in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing. 
By and by they died, were destroyed by a flood, 
and at the time Peter wrote they were in prison, 
but they were not in prison when the preaching 
was done. Peter speaks of them in prison. Here 
are spirits after death in the spirit world, in pris- 
on in that world. Let us look out! There is some 
actual punishment God threatens against men. 

Dan. 12 :2, "Many that sleep in the dust of 
the earth shall awake, some to everlasting shame 
and contempt." Notice, the life is put in con- 
trast with the shame and contempt. Those who 
come up to life enjoy it, and those who come up 
in shame and contempt must endure it; and both 
alike are continuous. There is a continuation of 
the shame and contempt as well as of the life. 
There is no contrast in it, if these ungodly men 
are called up and sentenced to pass out of exis- 
tence forever, they do not realize it except for a 
single moment in which God speaks them into 
non-entity. God declares their shame and con- 
tempt is to be everlasting, just like the life of the 
righteous. 

John 5 :25, "He that heareth my word and 



Punishment of the Wicked. 305 

believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting 
life and shall not come into condemnation." Here 
the life is one thing and the condemnation the op- 
posite. There is no point in it except in the anti- 
thesis. As the life is to be eternal so the punish- 
ment is to be eternal. 

Matt. 26:24. Speaking of Judas, "It had 
been good for that man if he had not been born." 
That could not be said of anybody that lives, if 
the penalty of sin is to be annihilation; for the 
momentary pain and sorrow he has is not to be 
compared with the long life he has been privi- 
leged to enjoy anyhow. Yet here is a man whose 
fate is so terrible, and the judgments of God so 
fearful after he goes to his own place, that it 
would have been better if he had never been born. 
If he just merely dies, and that is the last of it, 
he might, just as well be born. 

There are some saved and some lost; the Bi- 
ble speaks of them. The brother tried to create 
a sympathy by representing God as punishing 
forever a man who had sinned first a little here. 
But I want to show you why God punishes for- 
ever. It is because they sin on forever. They 
live on and sin on to all eternity. Note the fol- 
lowing passage: Rev. 22:14, "Blessed are they 
that do his commandments, that they may have 
a right to the tree of life and may enter in 
through the gates into the city." Where are 
they? In the city. Who is on the inside "These 
are they which have come up through great trib- 
ulation and have washed their robes and made 
them white in the blood of the Lamb." Is any- 
body on the outside? My brother says they have 



306 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

all been extinguished. But let us have what God 
says about it. "For without are dogs and sor- 
cerers and whoremongers and murderers and 
idolators and whosoever maketh and loveth a lie." 
Are they on the outside? Yes; John says it. My 
brother says they are all extinct. Which will yo^, 
take? 

Rev. 22:11, He that is unjust, let him be 
unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be 
filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be 
righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be 
holy still." I thought you were going to extin- 
guish the unjust and the filthy and that they 
would have no more being! "Behold I come 
quickly." There is to be a resurrection both of 
the just and the unjust and each will have his re- 
ward. When I come I will give it to him. 

I have just given you a hint of what God 
says about this question. It is too solemn a mat 
ter for us to make an appeal to sympathy on. 
He is going to do right and not punish anybody on 
the face of the earth unjustly, but there is going 
to be a punishment for every evil doer; God says 
so, and we may as well make provision that way. 
This audience cannot afford to trifle with God's 
word. These plain statements of unvarnished 
doctrine which come thundering down to us as 
warnings are what made the apostle cry out, 
"Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade 
men." (Time called.) 



CHAPTER XV. 

ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF APOSTASY. 

Argument I. Angels are holy, but they fell, 
and are finally lost. 

REPLY. 

1. Angels stood by law, not by grace. Every 
one who stands by law is lable to fall. 

2. Christ never died for angels, and does 
not bear their sins; hence they are lost for the 
lack of a Savior. 

3. Fallen angels never were regenerate 
children of God. Had they been such they would 
have been partakers of the the divine nature, that 
cannot sin. 

Argument II. Adam was holy and he fell. 

REPLY. 

1. Adam, like angels, stood by law, and for 
the same reason could fall. 

2. Adam was not a regenerate child of God 
prior to the fall. 

3. His relation to God stood on works, not 
on grace. 

4. There is no proof that he was finally lost. 
Argument III. It is said that King Saul fell. 
Note 1. God selected Saul as king. I Sam. 

9:16-17. 



308 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

2. Saul was to have the Spirit on him and 
prophesy. 1 Sam. 10:6. 

3. He did prophesy. 1 Sam 10:10-12. 

REPLY. 

1. There is no evidence that Saul was ever 
a, regenerate man. 

2. He was given as a king because he was 
wicked. 

"1 gave thee a king in mine anger, and took 
him away in my wrath." Hosea, 13:11. See 1 
Sam. 12:19-20. 

3. At first Saul declined the kingship. 1 
Sam. 9:21, 10: 21. 

4. He was turned into "another man," not 
a neiv man. 10:6. 

5. God gave him "another heart," not a 
new heart. I Sam 10:9. 

6. Those who knew him were astonished 
that he was a prophet. 1 Sam. 10 :12. 

7. Prophecy does not always indicate con- 
version. Balaam's ass, Num. 22:28-30; 2 Pet. 2: 
16. Caiaphas prophesied. John 11 :50-51. 

Argument IV. It is said that Kng David 
fell. 

Note 1. He committed murder. 2. Sam. 
12:9. 

2. "No murderer hath eternal life." 1 
John 3:15. 

3. He prayed, "Restore me." Ps. 50:12. 

REPLY. 

1. David was a regenerate man. 

2. He sinned egregiously, and inexcusably. 



Arguments on Apostasy. 309 

3. But he confessed his sins and was for- 
given. 2 Sam. 12:13. .. . -.;, 
. . 4. His punishment was the death of his 
child, v. 14. 

5. He prayed: ''Restore unto me the joys of 
salvation," not the salvation itself. He had that, 
but his sins had brought him great distress. Psa. 
50:12. 

6. He was the sweet singer of Israel, and a 
man after God's own heart. Acts 13:22. , 

Argument V. In Ezekiel we are told that 
if a righteous man turneth from his righteous- 
ness, and commit iniquity he shall die. Ez. 18: 
24-26; 33:18. 

REPLY. 

1. Ezekiel is speaking of capital punish- 
ment, natural death. Ez. 33:1-10. 

2. The righteousness here mentioned is a 
legal one. Ez. 18:1-9. 

3. The man turns from /lis own righteous- 
ness. Ez. 33:13. 

, . • 

4. He is not speaking of regenerate per- 
sons. 

5. None can be saved by the deeds of the 
law. Rom. 3:20; Col. 3:9. 

6. By the law, the committing of one sin 
brings death. "Who then can be saved?" 

Argument VI. The unclean spirit goes out 
of a man, and then returns, and his last state is 
worse than the first. Matt. 12 :43. 

1. This unclean spirit goes out, not cast 
out. 



310 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

2. He returns to "my house." He count 3 , 
it his own house. 

3. He goes in and out at his own pleasure. 

4. If he finds "seven" others "more wicked 
than himself" then he was not Satan. On re- 
turning he finds his house "empty, swept and 
garnished." Then the good sprit was not there, 
and haa not been there. This house belonged to 
the 'unclean spirit" all the time. 

5. This person was never a regenerate 
man because he had never had the "indwelling 
of the Holy Spirit." The language had its appli- 
cation to that generation. 

Argument VII. It is claimed that Judas Is- 
cariot fell. 

1. That Judas was one of the apostles. Mark 
3:9; Luke 6:14. 

2. He had part of that ministry. Acts 1 :17. 

3. He had power to cast out devils. Matt. 
10:1. 

4. To preach the gospel and perform mir- 
acles. Matt-. 10:7-8. 

REPLY. 

1. Judas was an unbeliever from the be- 
ginning. John 6:64. 

2. Jesus said he "was a devil." John 6:70. 

3. David said he was a wicked man." Ps. 
109:6-8. 

4. Jesus called him the "son of perdition," 
not a son of God. John 17:12. 

5. Peter said "he went to his own place." 
Acts 1:25. 

6. Jesus said he was lost that Scripture 



Arguments on Apostasy. 311 

might be fulfilled. John 17:12. .He never was 
a regenerate man. 

Argument VIII. The broken off branches. 

1. "Every branch in me." John 15 :2. 

2'. That beareth not fruit he taketh away/' 
John 15:2. 

3. "Men gather them and they are burned." 
John 15:6. 

1. There are two kinds of Christians, real 
and nominal. 

2. The nominal have the semblance of be- 
ing in the vine. 

3. The vineyard metaphor has the idea of 
"water sprouts." 

4. "Every one that beareth fruit he purg- 
eth. The fruit is love. 

5. None can be Christians without love. 

6. If he has that he will be "purged" and 
bring forth more fruit. 

Argument IX. Israelites lost in the wilder- 
ness. 1 Cor. 10:5-6. 

1. They all ate and drank of Christ, 1 Cor. 
10:4. 

2. They were all baptized. 1 Cor. 10:1. 

3. They were all counted as Israel. 

1. They ate and drank of Christ only in a 
figure. 1 Cor 10:4. 

2. They did not all believe the gospel. 
Heb. 4:2. 

3. God said they "had not known his ways." 
Heb. 3:10. 

4. None but the wicked and idolatrous per- 
ished. 1 Cor. 10:7-11. 



312 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

5. Paul says we shall not be tempted above 
that we are able to bear. 1 Cor. 10:13. 

Argument X. The Jews broken off and the 
gentiles grafted in. Rom. 11 :20. 

1. The "olive tree" is salvation. 

2. To be broken off is to be lost. 

REPLY. 

1. The olive tree is a figure meaning "God's 
favor." 

2. The Jews lost this favor by unbelief. 
Rom. 11:20. 

3. The gentiles secure it by faith. Rom. 
11:20. 

4. God has not "cast off his people." Rom. 
11:2. 

5. Their fall brought salvation to us. Rom. 
11:11-15. 

6. "All Israel shall be saved." Rom. 11 :26. 
Argument XL Impossible to renew them 

to repentance. Heb. 6:36. 

1. These persons had been enlightened. 
Heb. 6:3. 

2. Had been made partakers of the Holy 
Ghost, v. 3. 

3. Had tasted of the good word of God. v.5. 

4. Had the powers of the world to come. v.5. 

5. And then fell away. v. 6. 

6. It is impossible to renew them. vs. 4-6. 

REPLY. 

1. To be enlightened" is to be informed. 
Ps. 19:8; Eph. 1:8. 

2. "Partakers of the Holy Ghost is convic- 
tion. John 16 :7-ll. 



Arguments on Apostasy. 313 

3. To taste God's word is to hear it. Job 
34 :2-4 : "Hear my words, oh ye wise men ; and 
give ear unto me. Ye that have known knowl- 
edge, for the ear trieth words as the mouth tast- 
eth meat. Let us choose to us judgment; let us 
know among ourselves what is good." 

4. The : :powers of the world to come," in- 
cluded both the convictions they had felt, and the 
miracles they had seen. Heb. 2:3-4. 

5. "If they fell away," is suppositional, like 
1 Cor. 15:12-20. 

6. Paul is contrasting the more perfect 
priesthood of Christ with that of the Jews, show- 
ing that if the first salvation was a failure, Christ 
must be crucified afresh to make a start towards 
another. See Heb. 5th chapter. 

7. Paul was persuaded better things of 
them. Heb. 6:9. 

8. This very chapter has God's oath to his 
people, vs. 13-14. 

9. If Paul means to say that a saved man 
thus falls, then to renew him would be impossible, 
and all who sin will be lost. 

Argument XII. Looking for fiery indigna- 
tion, for the folowing reasons: 

1. The persons receiving the knowledge of 
the truth. Heb. 10:26-29. 

2. Were sanctified by the blood, v. 29. 

3. Trod under foot the Son of God. v. 29. 

4. Did "despite to the spirit of grace." v.29. 

5. Must look for judgment and fiery in- 
dignation, v, 27. 

6. They sinned wilfully, v. 26. 



314 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

REPLY. 

1. These persons were not Christians, but 
great sinners. 

2. To "sin wilfully" after we know the 
truth, is inexcusable, but sinners who are never 
saved, do that. 

3. To trample Christ "under foot," is to re- 
ject him altogether. 

4. The impenitent sinner counts the blood 
of the covenant wherewith he (Christ) was sanc- 
tified, an unholy thing. See Taylor, Matthew 
Henry, etc. 

5. Doing "despite to the Spirit of Grace" is 
tc resist the Spirit's acts, 7 :51. 

6. Those who 'despised Moses' law" rejected 
him as they reject Christ. Lev. 26:43. "The 
land also shall be left of them', and enjoy her Sab- 
baths, while she lieth desoltate without them, 
and they shall accept of the punishment of their 
iniquity, because, even because they despised my 
judgments, and because their soul abhorred my 
judgments." Luke 10:16. "He that heareth you, 
heareth me, and he that despiseth you, despiseth 
me, and he that despiseth me despiseth him that 
sent me." 

7. The "fiery indignation" will "devour the 
adversaries," not the Lord's people. 

8. If it is a Christian who thus sins he is 
lost eternally, for "there remaineth no more sac- 
rifice for sin." v. 26. 

Argument XIII. Make shipwreck of faith. 



Arguments on Apostasy. 315 

1. Some have made "shipwreck of faith." 
2 Tim. 2. 

2. Their word eats as a 'canker" 

REPLY. 

1. It is not said that their personal faith in 
Christ was "shipwrecked." 

2. Shipwreck does not necessarily mean de- 
struction. Paul was shipwrecked thrice. 2 Cor. 
11:5. 

3. Their error was on one doctrine, the res- 
urrection. They did not deny it, but said it was 
past. 2 Tim. 2:18. 

4. Paul delivered them over to Satan that 
they might learn not to blaspheme, v. 20. That 
is not damnation, but correction. 

5. "Nevertheless the foundation of God 
standeth sure, the Lord knoweth them that ?.re 
his." 2 Tim. 2:19. 

Argument XIV. Damnation of wanton ivid- 
ows. 

1. Wanton against Christ to "ogle with the 
eys." — Young's Concordance. 

2. They have damnation. 

REPLY. 

1. It is not criminal to "ogle with the eyes.'' 
— to court. 

2. The diaglott renders "incurring condem- 
nation," men will blame them." 

3. The diaglott renders, "They have violat- 
ed their first fidelity." They have not cast off 
faith.. 

4. All widows who want to marry, are not 
to be damned. 



316 Memoirs of Eld. J. iV. Hall. 

Argument XV. Paul keeps his body under, 
and while he preached to others, he feared that 
he might be a castaway. 

REPLY. 

1. Paul's trouble was with his body, not his 
spirit. 

2. "A castaway" is not a criminal. Dia- 
glott, "unapproved. 5 ' 

3. All Christians "keep under their bodies," 
so as not to be unapproved. 

4. Paul had committed all to Christ. 2 
Tim. 1:12. 

Argument XVI. Saving a soul from death. 
"Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, 
and one convert him; let him know that he that 
converteth a sinner from the error of his way, 
shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a 
multitude of sins." James 5:19-20. 

1. This man is a "brother." 

2. He "errs from the truth." 

3. His conversion saves him "from death. "- 

reply. 
1. To err from the truth does not necessar- 
ily mean damnation. "For the love of money is 
the root of all evil : which while some coveted af- 
ter they erred from the faith, and pierced them- 
selves through with many sorrows." 1 Tim. 6 :10. 
These were not lost. Again: "O Timothy, keep 
that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding 
profane and vain babblings, and opposition of 
science, falsely so called, which some professing 
have erred concerning the faith. 1 Tim. 6 :20. It 
is not a damning sin to oppose false science. 



Arguments on Apostasy. 317 

2. If a sinner is converted he is saved, not 
Jost. 

3. James is writing to the twelve scattered 
tribes, and calls them "brother" without refer- 
ence to Christ. Jas. 1:1, 3:1, etc. 

Argument VII. The sin unto death. 1 John 
5 :16. "If any man see his brother sin a sin which 
is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shalligive 
him life for them that sin not unto death, There 
is a sin unto death :I do not say that he shall pray 
for it." 

1. A sin that is not "unto death." 

2. A sin that is "unto death." 

3. That must mean "eternal death." 

REPLY. 

1. There are two sorts of death from sin — 
natural death, and damnation. 

2. Prayer doesn't save from "damnation." 
It takes the blood of Christ to do that. 

3. Prayer may save from natural death. 
"Anti the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and 
the Lord shall raise him up ; and if he have com- 
mitted sins, they shall be forgiven him. James 
5:15. 

"Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the 
Lord, the God of David thy father : / have heard 
thy prayer; I have seen thy tears; behold, I will 
add unto thy days fifteen years. Isa. 38:5. 

4. The "sin unto death" brings fatal sick- 
ness. 

5. John says: "We know that whatever is 
born of God, sinneth not." v. 18. 



318 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

6, So, then, he must be speaking of others 
than those that "are born of God." 

7. Jesus said to his people, "they shall never 
die." Jno. 11 :26. 

Argument XVIII. Take his, pan out of 
the book. Revelation 22 : 18-19. 

1. It is supposed that this man has a saved 
relation to God. 

2. And by sin he loses it. 

REPLY. 

1. Can any man add to or take from the 
word of God? 

2. Whoever would do it would be a wicked 
man. 

3. What part has such a man in "the book 
of life?" or in "the holy city?" 

4. He simply forfeits his opportunity for 
salvation by his sin. 

Argument XIX. Some shall depart from, 
the faith. "Now the spirit speaketh exphessly, 
that in the latter times, some shall depart from 
the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doc- 
trines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; hav- 
ing their conscience seered with a hot iron ; for- 
bidding to marry, and commanding to abstain 
from meats, which God both sreated to be re- 
ceived with thanksgiving, of them which believe 
and know the truth." 1 Tim. 4:1-3. 

1. Some depart from the faith. 

2. It is supposed they will be lost. 

REPLY. 

1. This is a prophecy of the last days antf 



Arguments on Apostasy. 319 

refers to merely nominal professors. See 2 Tim. 
3:1-9. 

2. The "falling away" reveals "the man of 
sin." 2 Thess. 2:3-4. 

3. Evidently refers to Romanism. 

* 4. Has no reference at all to apostasy, but 
to a denominational apostasy from the true sys- 
tem of faith. 

Argument XX. The sow returneth to her 
wallow. 1 Pet. 2 :20-22. 

1. These had "escaped the polutions. 

2. They knew "the way of righteousness." 

3. They "turned from the holy command- 
ments." 

4. The latter end is worse than the begin- 
ning. 

5. It is supposed they were last. 

REPLY. 

1. People escape the "polutions of the 
world," by simply going into the church, and liv- 
ing morally. 

2. A "knowledge of Christ," may be clearly 
had by hearing the gospel preached. 

3. To "turn from righteousness" is to turn 
from the church. 

4. It is always "worse with them than at 
the beginning" because they will be counted hy- 
pocrites, and are harder to bring to repentance. 
Such people are rarely ever saved. 

5. Like the "dog" and the "sow," they had 

never been changed in nature. 

6. They were false teachers to begin with. 
See vs. 1-3. 



320 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

7. Their true character is displayed in re- 
turning to the old habits, and in v, 12-18. 
Evils of the doctrine of Apostasy. 

1. It is based on a system of salvation by 
works. 

2. It gives the devil more power to destroy 
than God has to save. 

3. It makes our salvation depend on the 
grace of Satan, instead of the grace of God. 

4. It makes God condemn his own children. 

5. It denies to the believer everlasting life. 

6. It reflects on the merits of Christ's blood, 
and imperils the whole system of redemption, and 
the throne itself. 

7. It nullifies the whole work of the spirit. 

8. It makes void the mediation of Christ. 

9. It nullifies the divine promises. 

10. It outrages God's oath to his people. 

11. It makes regeneration a mockery. 

12. It leaves the world without hope. 

13. Declares (1) that God was not wise 
enough or (2) was not good enough, or (3) was 
not strong enough, to effectually save his people. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE RESURRECTION. 

Brethren Moderators, Ladies and Gentle- 
men : I stand before you in the affirmative of a 
new question, and one that is fraught with mo- 
mentous interest to all of our hearts. We have 
already been discussing now for four sessions 
the serious question of death, and whatever may 
have been the issue between us as to the condition 
of man in death, there has been no issue as to the 
fact that death is a terrible reality. Death is 
abroad in the land. We have our cemeteries filled 
with the bodies of our people; these bodies we 
loved while we walked with them in the world. 
We take flowers on Decoration day and go to 
the place where they sleep, and give evidence to 
those who look upon us that we still hold them in 
loving memory. It is a matter of very great con- 
cern to us to know whether or not these now sleep- 
ing in the grave shall never be brought out. Will 
these bodies again walk on the earth? Will there 
come a change that this world will be fitted for 
their occupation and they themselves fitted to this 
world after purification? 

We now assert that there will be a resurrec- 
tion of all the dead that died. That is put in be- 
cause some part of the human family will escape 



322 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

death and will be changed in a moment, in the 
twinkling of an eye; these will not pass through 
the ordinary process of death as such. The prop- 
osition affirms that everybody that dies that be- 
longs to the human family will be raised up 
again from the dead. 

It may strike you as a little peculiar that eny- 
body should deny the proposition, yet my brother 
does, and that makes it necessary that we should 
inquire what is the exact issue between us. The 
proposition says that all that die will be raised 
again. The denial implies that some who die 
amongst the children of men will not be raised. 
What is the idea in reference to the resurrection 
that makes such an issue? Probably I could not 
do better than to call your attention to theAwa- 
stasis, by Dr. Thomas, on page 20. I would like 
to impress this thought before I begin to read, 
that if I do not misunderstand their idea is that 
there will not probably be a real resurrection et 
all ; that the real dust of the real people who left 
this world will not be raised, but there will be 
a resurrection out of the dust of the body; it 
may not be, however, this same dust, or it may 
be ; it is immaterial whether it is or not, but there 
will be a resurrection of bodies that will have 
flashed upon them characters that the people 
have developed in this world, and these will an- 
swer in the judgment to what they have been in 
this life. I will read some statements that give 
this thought ; if I misapprehend them my brother 
will correct me. Page 20 — "Such are things and 
the order of their development, in the resurrec- 
tion period. First, reorganization of dust as a 



The Resurrection. 323 

basis for the restoration of personal identity; 
then the breathing into the nostrils breath of the 
spirit of life, that the individual may awake, and 
stand upon his feet; after this, restoration of 
identity for appearance at the judgment seat of 
Christ, that the appearer may give an account 
of himself to that Righteous Judge in the pres- 
ence of the angelic apparitors of his court, etc." 
This statement seems to say that there will be 
new organisms of dust and reformation of the 
body without the identical dust that once existed. 
I will also read from page 23 of this little 
book to show you that the dead are regarded as 
mere historical characters, whose record is the 
ether, the thin air, and that the organized body 
that they call the resurrection will merely have 
this character flashed from the air on the new 
body, and make this new man answer for the old 
man's deeds. "The dead are historical characters, 
who lived and moved and had being in Deity. 
Hence all their thoughts and actions, constituting 
their characters, are recorded in Mm as in *a 
book of remembrance.' Therein is written their 
history; and, with the exception of their incor- 
poreal dust in sheol, their characters inscribed 
upon the divine page, are the all that remains of 
them in the universe. This scroll or record is 
the broad sheet of spirit, styled by philosophers 
ether and electricity, which, filling the universe, 
enwrans the world. All thoughts and actions are 
vibrations excited in this spirit of the Creator, 
by corporeal agents. These subtle vigratory im- 
pressions are never obliterated, unless he wills" 
never to revive them.'' 



324 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

Our brother has told us God's spirit is air, 
the air we breathe; here now we see also the 
air is God's book; there is where you record 
your name and your character as a picture is 
flashed on a camera ; and in the last day they or- 
ganize a body of dust and this character you put 
on the atmosphere will be flashed on the body 
and thai body will answer for your life. That is 
the idea I got from the book. If I am misstating 
it the brother must set me right. "And all 
thoughts and actions are vibrations excited in the 
spirit of the Creator, by corporeal agents . . . 
The electrical and electrically recorded thoughts 
and actions to be manifested are the hidden 
things }f darkness, and the counsels of the hearts 
of the just who have accepted, and of the unjust 
who have rejected or extinguished the light." 

Now, a little further on this same point: On 
page 29 I find another statement with reference 
to the organization of the body : 

"Bat where is the 'mortal llesh' of the saints 
of past generations, in which the resurrection 
life of Jesus may be manifested? There is no 
flesh pertaining to them in existence. There is 
nothmg of them remains, but their characters re- 
corded in the divine register, and a little dust. 
Is it not evident then, that 'mortal flesh' must be 
created, and pre-resurrectional consciousness 
flashed upon it, that the saints of Rome and Cor- 
inth may experience the life of Jesus in their mor- 
tal flesh?" 

Again, we read from page 35 as follows: 
"The old body buried is done with. It has an- 
swered its purpose as a medium through which 



The Resurrection. 325 

image, and identity of likeness of pre-resurrec- 
a character might be developed. It dies, is bur- 
ied, and dissolves, leaving only a residium of dust. 
It is no more a body; so that whatever comes 
forth must be a new creation, after the similitude 
of the first Adam in his original formation.' 
And on page 24 we find this language: "All that 
is required in resurrection is identity of form or 
image, and identity of likeness; so that the in- 
tellectual and moral likeness of pre-resurrectional 
man, be not flashed upon the post resurrectional 
image of a woman. This would be confusion. 
. . The enemies of the saints in various ages 
have thought to prevent their resurrection by 
burning their bodies, and scattering their dust to 
the winds! But the Lord in heaven holds all 
such enterprises in -derision. Any other dust 
may do as well; the power of identity not residing 
there; but in the character already formed being 
flashed by the spirit upon the new creature." 

Now my idea from this passage is that Chris- 
tad'elphians believe that there will be no resurrec- 
tion, but a recreation. The issue, therefore, be- 
tween us on this proposition is of the most radical 
nature. I believe that there will be a resurrection, 
I believe that the very body, the very dust, the 
verv material beins 1 that once lived in this world 
will be called out of the dead, that he will have to 
answer for the character already made. I believe 
God has a record and keens it in a hook and will 
call all of us into the presence of the judgment 
after we have been raised from the dead. There 
is the issue; you see that it is on the very question 
of the resurrection itself, unless I misapprehend 



326 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

the position of the brother, and if I do the brother 
will call my attention to it. 

Now I come to inquire whether there will be 
a resurrection of all the dead, if it were granted 
that there will be a real resurrection, still we ap- 
prehend that the Christadelphians believe that 
some people will not be raised again ; who are 
they? If I understand the position, the Christa- 
delphians do not believe that any infants who die 
before they come to years of responsibility and ac- 
countability will be raised from the dead. They 
do not believe that any heathen will ever be re- 
garded as being responsible and will therefore 
never be raised ; and it may be said that here are 
two large portions of the human family that, ac- 
cording to the Christadelphians belief, will never 
see the light, and will never be raised from the 
dead. All infants, and it is estimated that more 
than half of the human population born into the 
earth die in a state of infancy, and I expect that 
calculation is correct. These little babes that have 
looked into your faces in innocence and have won 
your affections ; they passed out in death and you 
wept over them; these heathen people, who; it is 
calculated, are far more than half of the human 
family — out of fourteen or fifteen hundred million 
people it is probable one thousand million of them 
are in heathenism — these will die and never be 
raised from the dead. There will therefore be 
comparatively few who will be raised from the 
dead. So the probability is, if there is any resur- 
rection at all, according to Christadelphians, there 
will be a resurrection of only a comparatively 
small portion, say about one- third, or less than 



The Resurrection. 327 

one-third. More than that, only those who have 
heard God's word and accepted it from the Chris- 
tadelphian standpoint will come to a resurrection 
of immortality. All you Baptists who have heard 
the gospel and understood enough of it to be re- 
sponsible, and do not accept the views of the 
Christadelphians, though you may have a resur- 
rection it will not be to immortality but to de- 
struction. I do not think I misapprehend the 
brethren if I say there will be a resurrection to 
immortality of only the Christadelphian people, so 
far as the present generation is concerned, accord- 
ing to their faith. Of course that makes the issue 
strong and radical. 

I understand that when God made man in his 
image, and endowed him with a spirit, and put 
within him breath that came from the mouth of 
the Almighty into the nostrils of the man, and 
called himi a living soul, he puts into existence 
part of the earthly creation, for the manifestation 
of his special care, and not only did he give him 
pre-eminence over everything else belonging io 
the present creation, but he is also seeking to 
bring about his redemption, in order that man 
might be made the subject of the Father's specific 
care. He bound himself in covenant while as yet 
there was no man, when he spoke in heaven to his 
Son, and in the counsels of the eternal, they made 
a plan by which the ravages of sin should be de- 
stroyed, and humanity be brought out from under 
its power, and only those who have lived in open 
rebellion, and have made a deliberate choice of 
death, should ultimately perish, while all the 
others should live in the presence of God' forever. 



328 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

I believe in that view of the divine arrangement 
where he dies for the human family, that he is the 
Father of our spirits ; that there was a purpose tv 
bring out death, as a victory over death, every- 
thing that may be held in bondage in the grave. 
That is the statement of my proposition. That is 
what I undertake to defend. That is the broad 
ground I occupy before you at this time. 

The first scripture I call attention to is Luke 
20:37. This has already been before us and we 
both agree that Jesus Christ is making an argu- 
ment for the resurrection of the dead. I need not 
stop to prove that this is the subject of the argu- 
ment. I just want to consider the sense of the 
argument. "He is not the God of the dead but of 
the living, for all live unto him." Notice the com- 
prehensiveness of the language. The "dead" and 
the word "all!" It is either true or false ;it is eo 
or not. Jesus Christ is the teacher. He is mak- 
ing a technical, legal argument, strictly to the 
Sadducees, for the resurrection, for they denied 
it, and here was his time to make that time known. 
He declared that God is the God of all, and he is 
not the God of the dead; he is not the God of any- 
body who is totally and utterly dead. If there 
is anybody in the universe who has gone down to 
utter death, God is not his God. But he is the 
God of the living, because all — all of whom? All 
of the dead live unto him. Jesus Christ says God 
is the God of all of them. Hence the argument 
is made to prove that none of them are dead; 
therefore every one shall be raised again out of 
the dead. 

My next argument I draw from the prophecy 



The Resurrection. 329 

"Thy dead men shall live." The word men is 
italicized. The proper rendering would be, "Thy 
dead shall live ;together with my dead body shall 
they arise. Awake and sing ye that dwell in the 
dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the 
earth shall cast out her dead and shall no more 
cover the slain" (Isa. 24:19). This is the con- 
solation Isaiah takes as he looks into the face or 
the dangers that threaten his people, and the 
consolation that comes to them is that there is 
coming a time when the earth will cease to cover 
the slain. "Thy dead shall live." I want you to 
take just for a moment a little thought on that 
specific statement, "Awake and sing ye that 
dwell in the dust." Everybody that has lived in 
this world, and has died, has gone to dust. There 
is not a single exception with reference to the hu- 
man body. That infant child that lay on your 
lap under the wasting shadow of disease, and 
went down into death, has returned to dust. Those 
heathen people, so far as their bodies are con- 
cern, have returned to dust. Now, the declaration 
of the wise man is, "Ye that dwell in dust shall 
awake." It is without limitation. When God 
makes a statement of a universal character, with- 
out limitation, it is to be accepted in its general 
sense; not to do it is to do violence to the Scrip- 
tures. Further than that he says, "The earth 
shall cast out her dead." Where are the dead? 
In the earth. Where are the dead? Gone back 
to dust. The time is coming when the dust will 
give up the dead. How many? The dead. If 
there is one dead person on the face of the uni- 



330 Memoirs of Eld. J. N, Hall. 

verse, from the creation of Adam to the sound oi 
Gabriel's trim pit, that does not come forth then 
the statement of the prophet is not correct. If 
there are to be a number of dead that will not 
be cast out, then it could not be truthfully said 
that the earth has cast out the dead, when the 
dead still remain in the earth, and Isaiah would 
not have said it. I believe, therefore, that the 
resurrection from; the dead will be universal. 
Since the dead universally go to the dust, and 
those that dwell in the dust shall awake; since 
the dead universally go to the dust of the earth 
and the earth shall cast out her slain. 

My next quotation is from Hosea 13:14, "1 
will ransom them from the power of the grave, 1 
will be your destruction!" Here is a statement 
of the Lord concerning the resurrection. Notice 
it begins, "I will ransom them from the power of 
the grave." The grave represents the charnel 
house of the dead. Isaiah says, they dwell in 
dust. The grave here does not mean two by si* 
feet of earth, but it is used to reperesent the con- 
dition of all the dead. If therefore they are to 
be ransomed from the power of the grave, and 
there is one grave left that still has power, the 
ransom would not be complete. "0 grave, I will 
be thy destruction!" Here the word grave is used 
as the representation of all the dead ; every grave, 
any grave, all graves, "I will be thy destruction." 
Everybody has gone to dust, whether in the earth 
or sea, or burned in the flames, every particle of 
dust that ever belonged to humanity is considered 
in the word' "grave," and the declaration is "0 
grave, I will be thy destruction." I undertake 



The Resurrecition. 331 

to say that the destruction in this case 
carries with it the entire setting aside of he au- 
thority of the grave. If any human dust will be 
eternally held in the grave that cannot be. As 
long as one grave holds the dust of one victim, 
the grave of an infant, the grave of a heathen, 
the statement cannot be true. The grave, there- 
fore, will be consumed, destroyed, overthrown, 
and the victory will be accomplished, and the 
redemption from the grave will be complete. Ev- 
ery grave will be destroyed or this statement can- 
not be fulfilled. 

Isaiah 25:6-8, "He will destroy in this moun- 
tain the face of the covering cast over all people ; 
the veil that is spread over all nations." What 
does he mean? What is he talking about? What 
is the veil? Listen to the next verse: "He will 
swallow up death in victory. The Lord God shall 
wipe away tears from all faces." Here is a 
promise not to Israel only, but to "all people." 
He will take away £he covering from the face of 
all people. God says, I will take it away. How v 
By swallowing up death. How is that swallowed 
up ? In victory. How is the victory gained ? By 
destroying death, takmg it awa\. Both refer to 
the death of the body. The victims referred to 
are those in their graves. That is just as Isaiah 
says in another place, "The earth shall cast out 
the dead." That is just like Hosea, "the grave 
shall be destroyed." Victory is not complete as 
long as a captive is held in bondage to the grave. 
Victory is not complete as long as one victim is 
in the power of the enemy. You have got to take 



332 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

away the last one of them. God says it must be 
"swallowed up in victory." I believe it. Do you? 

Dan. 12 :2, "Many of them that, sleep in the 
dust of the earth shall awake" "Many!" that 
don't say all. Daniel speaks by prophecy. He 
looks down the ages and sees the resurrection ot 
the dead, and declares the time is coming when 
"many that sleep in the earth shall awake!" Does 
he mean by that that there are any that sleep in 
the dust of the earth that will not awake? I he 
very word "many" is intended to comprehend ev- 
ery one of the multitude of the dead. There are 
many of them and thy are all to awake. There 
will not be one left. There will be no exception. 

Acts 24:14: "And have hope towards Goa 
which they themselves also allow, that there shall 
be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and 
unjust." I undertake to say that the expression 
"the dead" has no limitations. The apostles, ev- 
ery one of them. Wieved in the resurrection of 
the dead, both of ;% e just and the unjust. These 
two terms take in the whole human famr'ly. There 
is not a human being on the face of the pnrth that 
these two terms do not include. It includes the 
human race from the infant to the adult, from 
+he instructed Christian to the benighted heathen; 
God counts him just or unjust, and the declaration 
is that there is to be a resurrection of both. Ev- 
erybody included in the human family will be 
raised from the dead (Acts 26:6-8). 



CHAPTER XVII. 

BROTHER HALL'S LAST SERMON. 
Noted by J. A. Scarboro. 

The sermon was preached by Brother Hall 
in the meeting house of the First Baptist Church. 
Texarkana, Texas, at 7 p. m., November 24, 1905, 
by appointment of the preaching committee. 

He told me that morning he had had a chill 
the night before. We worked in the committee 
room on the Statement of Principles of the Gen- 
eral Association, some in the morning and all the 
afternoon. He was weary and so haggard many 
remarked it and expressed their fear for his life. 

He began his sermon by a brief introduction 
on the importance of settling in our minds the 
question of confidence in the Scriptures, and ex- 
pressing his own interest and the possibility of 
dissolution at any time. The tender emotions 
awakened by the hopes' 1 and promises for the 
Christians held forth in the Bible and what effect 
these hopes had upon him from boyhood. 

Then he said he would give them some rea- 
sons why he believed the Bible was inspired and 
given to us by God. 

1. There is a God. All the unverse pro- 
claims this truth. 



334 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

2. The Bible is the only book in the tvorld 
in the language of God, and the best language of 
inert. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, 
the language of religion and law. The Old Testa- 
ment is now a text book in Hebrew and a student 
cannot graduate from a university of languages 
unless he has read the Old Testament in Hebrew, 
and no man is considered educated by scholars 
unless he reads in Hebrew. God is master of 
languages, and he selected the Hebrew as the lan- 
guage in which to give us his will as revealed in 
the Old Testament. 

The New Testament was written in Greek, 
the best and purest human language. It puts 
the largest thoughts into the shortest sentences 
and words, and God selected that language in 
which to complete his revelation. When God had 
completed his revelation in these tongues he pet- 
rified them. Other languages change. These do 
not. So perfect are they that one who can read 
or speak Hebrew or Greek now could have con- 
versed intelligently with speakers of those lan- 
guages in the time of David and our Savior. 

3. Because there are mysteries in the Bible. 
Men are too ignorant to comprehend God's 
thoughts, and for this reason many things which 
God says men cannot understand. Shall we re- 
fuse to believe it because it is mysterious ? Since 
it claims to be a revelation from a God of mys- 
teries, how could we believe it was from him 
if it contained no mysteries? Nature is from 
God, and we know nature is mysterious. If, the 
Bible is from God, it, too, will therefore contain 



Brother' Hall's Last Sermon. 335 

mysteries, What is the attraction. of gravitation? 
We are told it is the natural tendency of free bod- 
ies to move toward the center of the earth. But 
what makes Mother Earth reach out her hands 
to call her children to her breast? Nobody knows 
or can tell. What is death ? Who can tell ? What 
is life? We do not know. Scientific men have 
argued eighty-live principles to explain the mys- 
tery of life, no two of which agree. What is 
electricity? How does it work? Marconi and 
Edison say they do not know. 

There are thousands of such mysteries with- 
in and about us — nature is full of them. We do 
not refuse to believe in nature because she is mys- 
terious and refuses to yield up her secrets to our 
weak minds. Shall we refuse to believe the Bible 
because we do not understand it? "The fool hath 
said in his heart, there is no God." (At this 
point in the sermon the interest and attention 
were intense, and when the quotation, "The fool 
hath said," fell from Brother Hall's lips, the audi- 
ence was fairly electrified, and there were amens 
and sobs and smiles, as the moods of the hearers 
expressed their feelings.) The mysteries con- 
vince me the Bible is from God. 

I read Butler's Analogy of Religion and went 
to sleep over it. Then I read Bogarty's Analysis 
of Butler's Analogy and he woke me up. He un- 
derstood Butler. 

Men could not have indicted or invented 
the Bible, because it is above human comprehen- 
sion, just as nature, the other book of God, is 



336 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

i^bove it, and therefore I know that both nature 
and the Bible are from God. 

(1) God is. It makes that perfectly plain. 

(2- I am a sinner. It makes that perfectly 
pig in. 

(3) Man needs salvation. That is perfect- 
ly plain. 

4. Because it is so simple. It makes all that 
is necessary for our happiness for us to know, 
perfectly plain. 

(5) Jesus came to die for us and give us 
c'ernal life. That is perfectly plain. 

Thus God in the Bible makes present condi- 
tions and needs plain, and promises to make the 
'"uture plain when we need it. 

5 Because the B'.bU is so brief . If God 
wrote it then it will be pregnant with truth. 
It is pregnant with truth. Therefore God 
wrote it. 

McClaren preached one hundred and sixteen 
sermons from one text. How long would it take 
a man to explain all the truth in the Bible, even 
if he understood it, on that basis ? 

Lofton preached or wrote sixteen sermons 
on the word "so," in the text "God so loved the 
world." How that word "so" does grow and 
expand as the preacher goes on with it. But 
how long would it take him to preach all the truth 
in all the words of the Bible? 

When I was a boy, quite young, not more 
\han twelve, perhaps, I heard an old Methodist 
preacher preach from the word "eternity." He 
said it was used one time in the Bible. But as 



Brother Hall's Last Sermon. 337 

he preached and the thought and truth grew on 
me, I felt I was but an innnitesmal atom in Goa's 
universe and God's "eternity." 

The Bible is not like any other book. If 
mien had written it it would have been like other 
books. Therefore, we know that God wrote it. 

Addison's History of the Creation of Light 
is one of the finest books man ever wrote. But 
the Bible puts more in one verse than there is 
in Addison's history. "God said, Let there be 
light" 

One man wrote an evolutionary history of 
the world. The Bible tells the whole story in 
one verse : "In the beginning God created the 
heaven and the earth." 

Another wrote five volumes on the life of 
Washington. The Bible puts the biography of 
Enoch, who lived much longer than Washington, 
into one verse : "Enoch walked with God, and he 
was not, for God took him." 

Still another wrote two volumes on the life 
of Christ, showing he was both human and di- 
vine. The Bible tells the whole story in two 
words: "Jesus wept." 

Men cannot write that way. God can. The 
Bible is written that way. Therefore the Bible 
is from God. 

6. Because the Bible deals honestly with 
men and tells the truth on them faithfully and im- 
partially. 

Fiction manufactures heroes and tries to 
produce faultless men. 

If the Bible had been written by men evil 



338 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

would have been concealed. It is not in human 
nature for men to reveal their own evil thoughts 
and bad conduct. But the Bible tells the truth 
just as it is. It tells how that great and good 
man, Abraham, lied. It tells how Moses did not 
please God. Of David committing murder, adul- 
tery and falsehood. It tells the truth on Peter 
and Paul. Some modern folks claim perfection, 
but we do not read of such folks in the Bible. 
God speaks the truth. You must face the truth 
just as it is, so you had best be careful. 

7. Because it is adapted to every need. 
(Here the preacher, for illustrating this truth, re- 
ferred to pride, riches, poverty, and gave a pas- 
sage addressed to each class; to father, mother, 
wife, husband child and parents, preachers and 
church members, the tempted and afflicted, and 
Quoted offhand, in a perfect flood of earnest elo- 
quence, warnings and promises from the Bible, 
precisely adapted and addressed to each.) Here 
is warning, instruction, help, comfort, guidance 
for everybody and every class and condition of 
men. 

No man or men could write a book adapted 
to the needs of all men and conditions in all ages, 
coveringe their wants, material and spiritual. 

The Bible is a book that does this. There- 
fore, the Bible is from God, not of men. 

(Then he went back and stood with the 
prophets in the Old Testament and took a future 
look at the ages that have followed, by the Scrip- 
tures. The cross and the Christ was the climax. 
Then he came this side and took a look backward 



Brother Hall's Last Sermon. 339 

through history. Again the climax was the cross 
and the Christ. And then, with his hands rev- 
erantly and tenderly laid on the Bible, he avowed 
his faith in the Book as of God, exhorted all to 
believe and obey its precepts and promises, and 
as his thoughts burned he grew sublimely elo- 
quent as with trembling yet firm voice he mar- 
shalled all the sweep of eloquence, as pure as 
heart could wish, and turning from prose to poe- 
try, he swept out and up to the very throne of 
glory, where that God reigns who gave us the 
Bible. I saw men look up, as if they could verily 
see God up there. 

The dropping his voice, he said: "I could 
go on thus much longer, but I must regard your 
patience and my strength/' 

Then seeming suddenly to think of it, he said, 
with a most delightful and astonished pleasantry : 
"Oh ! I for got to quote my text ! Let me read it 
to you." And opening the Book he read these 
words : 

"For this cause also thank we God without 
ceasing, because, when ye received the word of 
God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as 
the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word 
of God, which effectually worketh also in you that 
believe.'' 1 Thess. 2:13. 

When he ceased the hearers began to rise 
and press forward, without invitation or sugges- 
tion from anyone, to shake his hand,, and as he 
met them they flocked about him, and while his 
eyes were" weepingr his face was lit up with the 
ioy in which all shared. Many were the heart- 



340 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

felt '"God bless you" and similar expressions ut- 
tered as they pressed forward to endorse what 
he had said. 

Had we but known it was his last word in 
the pulpit! But how could we have borne it if 
we had known? From himi and us the solemn 
truth was in mercy concealed. 

Of course, this is only synoptic. The divi- 
sions and leading propositions are verbatim. The 
illustrations are in large part, his own language. 
But the earnestness, the logic, the eloquence, the 
pathos, the heart throbs, the climaxes, the man, 
could never be put on paper. 

I am thankful it was my happy privilege to 
be there, and I am glad I took full notes of his 
divisions and leading points. The sermon will 
live in my memory as long as it does its office. 

Believing many would be glad to have even 
a synopsis of it, I have sent this outline to Sis- 
ter Hall. 

I have thought how fitting was such a ser- 
mon and subject for a preacher's farewell to the 
world. And how fitting was that text for the 
man who used it. Those who heard him preach 
did receive his preaching as the word of God and 
not of men, for if mortal man ever preached the 
gospel with spiritual power and force irresist- 
ible, that man was Brother Hall. And the word 
he preached did "work effectually in them that 
believed." He yielded himself fully to God and 
the Spirit filled and used him. Beside the dry 
academic and declamations of the scholastics, his 
preaching was like a roaring furnace beside fox 



Brother Hall's Last Sermon. 341 

fire. They declaimed; he preached. Brethren, 
let us try to do some better ; let us pray and sub- 
mit ourselves and so may God help us to preach. 
And you, dear brethren and sisters, who heard 
Brother Hall, don't kill us all off because we can- 
not preach as he did, but pray for us and help us 
all you can. If you do not think we can preach, 
please do not tell us so; give us some little en- 
couragement. 

Brother Hall had the moral courage to inves- 
tigate for himself, to reach, hold, speak, write, 
preach his convictions and conclusions, with all 
the earnestness and power God gave him. He 
was not a stereotyped edition of the modern 
pieacher factory, but his mind, heart and will 
were cast upon the matrix of the word and will 
of God, and he was as unlike the common form 
as a live man is unlike an automaton. If the 
ministerial stereotypers are envious of his ability 
and influence, we thank God that he gave us in 
Brother Hall a specimen of what he can do in 
the way of makng a preacher without the adjunct 
of scholastic machinery. And right here there is 
comfort for those who look to God rather than 
men for the annointing and power to preach the 
word. He was not afraid of men ; if he had been 
we should not have heard of him, perhaps, at all. 



342 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

APPENDIX. 

We have thought it fitting to close these 
memoirs with the last document that Brother 
Hall helped to construct, and to which he signed 
his name, as chairman of the committee. In 
this committee were men of every shade of con- 
viction from the anti-organization man to the 
zealous convention man. There were all the 
shades between. The committee at first seemed 
a regular bedlam, but the spirit to do right and 
surrender all mere personal preferences soon 
manifested itself, and no one was so much in- 
strumental in inspiring such a spirit as Bro. 
J. N. Hall. In him and one or two others in that 
committee was found the medium ground be- 
tween the extreme board and the extreme gospel 
mission ideas. 

All inteligent men know that what was orig- 
inally known as gospel missions was the very nat- 
ural extreme rebound from the centralizing of the 
convention. One is such a strong organism as to 
be anti-Baptistic, and the discovery of that 
caused a recoil to the other extreme of no asso- 
ciate organization at all, almost to the extent of 
isolation. There were some who saw the just 
cause of the recoil, but deprecated the extremety 
to which it went. They believed that between the 
two extremes could be found a working associate 



Appendix. 343 

basis that was both expedient and scriptural. 
Among this class Dr. Hall stood pre-eminent. In 
the editorial chapter of this volume will be seen 
his staunch position on this matter. He believed 
in co-operation among the churches, but resisted 
centralization and oligarchy to his death. 

This appended document sets forth this me- 
dium ground. It is, in a sense, the formulation 
of his ideas as to associate effort. It was not al- 
together his, but he was too generous a man, and 
too ready to recognize the wisdom and rights of 
others to insist on the adoption of his views all 
thrugh. The members of that committee will 
never forget how his brotherly spirit and tact, 
rounded off the corners of contention and brought 
harmony of decision. His large spirit of "givs 
and take" was contagious. There probably was 
never brought together ten men who, at the be- 
ginning, showed less promise of agreement. All 
consented at the end of the deliberations that the 
spirit of the Master was present, and the com- 
mittee work closed with the spirit of rejoicing. 
Thus closed the incident out of which came the 
"Texarkana Statement of Principles." The 
reader will notice that this is a platform on 
which all Baptists can stand. No one has felt to 
criticize this statement, except one or two breth- 
ren of the extreme gospel mission conviction. 
They object on one or two points — the matter of 
electing officers at the annual meetings of the 
messengers, and the work of the committee on 
finance and information. They are afraid' that 
another "board" may develop from this. 

It was said at his death that Dr. Hall had 



344 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

changed his views, but a comparison of his last 
document with his editorials, which are in this 
book, and cover a period of more than ten years, 
will show different. 

A closing word as to what is herein left us 
would not be out of place, with an exhortation. 
Dr. Hall has left us the heritage of accomplish- 
ments and achievements for truth; he has left 
us the great Baptist Flag. This paper is the 
most thoroughly equipped religious periodical 
among Southern Baptists, having every facility 
for the business from a card press to a three- 
thousand-dollar linotype machine. Dr. Hall 
laid these foundations for the future. So deep 
was his interest in this great work that his "last 
will and testament" mentions his desire for its 
perpetuity. The importance is seen in the fact 
that this great periodical stands alone in its field 
of independent, fearless, Baptist journalism. For 
these reasons, all true Baptists realize this impor- 
tance and will continue to rally to its support. 
For these reasons, too, his widow is shouldering 
the burdens of the great enterprise. Should the 
Flag disappear or be moved from its present poli- 
cies, where would the denomination look for suf- 
ficient denominational strength and influence to 
contend for the old faith? 

The Flag is the great rallying point of all 
Landmark Baptists. This is not said to disnaraere 
such a paper as the Arkansas Baptist, but the 
Flag alone has the circulation, co-extensive with 
the reputation and influence of its noted editor. 
Tn all doctrinal questions of this or past times, 
all look to the Flag for a safe ground of faith. 



Appendix. 345 

So let all true Baptists uphold this great Baptist 
forum. 



STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES. 
ARTICLE I. 

This Association may be known as the Bap- 
tist General Association. 

ARTICLE II. 

Object. 
The object of this Association of churches is 
the evangelization of the world according to the 
methods found in the New Testament. 

ARTICLE III. 
Membership. 

This Association is composed of such Baptist 
churches as choose to send messengers to the an- 
nual meetings, and such other churches as may 
wish to represent by letter or endorsement of the 
principles of this body. 

Sec. 2. Each church is the sole judge as to 
the qualifications of its messengers, and each 
church is entitled to one vote in all business trans- 
actions. 

ARTICLE IV. 

Meetings. 

Section 1. This Association may hold an- 
nual meetings at such times and places as may 
be agreed upon by messengers of the churches. 

Sec. 2. Called meetings may be had at the 
request of a majority of the co-operatin© 
churches. 



346 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall. 

ARTICLE V. 

This Association will ever recognize equal 
rights and lit^aes of speech in all its associate 
work. 

ARTICLE VI. 

That all things may be done in decency and 
in order, the messengers of the co-operative 
churches may elect a moderator and assistant 
moderator, a clerk and assistant clerk, a trea- 
surer and an auditor, to perform the duties to 
such offices. 

ARTICLE VII. 

A majority vote shall decide all questions be- 
fore the body, so far as the messengers are con- 
cerned. 

ARTICLE VIII. 

Section 1. For the purposes of service and 
information, a committee of three on finance ana 
information, one of whom will be the treasurer, 
as set forth by example in 2 Cor., 8th chapter, 
where the churches jointly appointed brethren to 
travel, collect and disburse funds for a specific 
purpose, give the churches information by visit- 
ing, preaching, writing letters and encouraging 
the good work, be nominated to the churches. 
Such committee to have no authority to appoint 
or otherwise control missionaries, but simply to 
serve the churches if the churches choose to use 
them. 

Sec. 2. The Committee on Information will 
inform the churches of the needs of the mission- 
aries who may be appointed or endorsed by the 
churches, of the amount of funds on hand, and 



Ap2)endix. 347 

of such missionaries as may desire to go to work. 
But this committee will in no wise interfere with 
such churches and missionaries as may desire to 
work independently. 

Sec. 3. Duty of the Treasurer. The trea- 
urer will receive and apply funds as designated, 
conduct such corespondence as the duties of his 
office require, render an annual audited report to 
the messengers in annual meeting, keep all ac- 
counts and records, turn the same over to his 
successor, and receive such compensation for his 
services as may be agreed upon by the mess- - 
gers. 

Sec. 4. We suggest that all churches and in- 
dividuals contributing direct to the missionaries 
on the field report the same to the treasurer, that 
the amounts may be tabulated in his report. 

ARTICLE IX. 

This Association will assist in the support 
of home and foreign missionaries who have been 
appointed by one of the co-operating churches 
as fully as the funds for these purposes will 
justify. 

ARTICLE X. 

This statement of principles is submitted to 
the churches for their consideration and such ac- 
tion as in their independence and wisdom they 
may desire to take, but it is explicitly understood 
that this meeting of messengers has no authority 
to legislate for the churches, or bind them in any 
manner, it being the desire of all to secure volun- 
tary co-operation in the work contemplated, and 
the action and recommendation of the messengers 
are subject to the endorsement of the churches, 



348 Memoirs of Eld. J. N. Hall 

it being the avowed sentiment of this Association 
that the churches are absolutely free to work as 
they may elect. 

ARTICLE XL 

When a church desires the aid of this Asso- 
ciation of churches in sending out a missionary 
to any field, we suggest that the said church will 
by vote endorse said missionary, secure the coun- 
sel of rearby sister churches as to the propriety 
of sending the said missionary, and that this coun- 
sel of churches will indicate the amount the coun- 
seling churches themselves will give toward his 
support. After which let the church clerk com- 
municate the facts to the committe on informa- 
tion, who will at once correspond with all the co- 
operating churches whose endorsement will de- 
cide the matter of his support by this Association 
(\f churches. 

ARTICLE XII. 

We would surest that it be understood that 
the churches co-cparating allow a sufficiency of 
the funds contributed to be appropriated for the 
support of the treasurer at the rate of three hun- 
dred dollars per annum. 

ARTICLE XIII. 

Each missionary is requesed to make dupli- 
cate reports, one to the church appointing him to 
the work, and one to the committee on informa- 
tion. 

ARTICLE XIV. 

This statement of principles may be changed 
at any regular meeting of the Association by a 



Appendix. 349 

majority of the voters present. Such changes 
to be referred to the churches for final action. 

J. N. Hall, Chairman. 

C. R. Powell, Secretary. 

E. A. Puthuff, 

C. A. Gilbert, 

G. W. Capps, 

J. A. SCARBORO, 

W. A. Ridge, 
A. Carlin, 
W. M. Barker, 
G. H. Stigler. 



There is one defect in this work found on 
page 8 in an inverted line. It was not discovered 
until too late to remedy it. Barring this one de- 
fect, I feel free to present this as an ideal Bap- 
tist doctrinal volume, that will always be stand- 
ard among Baptists. W. M. Barker. 



the end. 



CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Chap. I. Family Sketch 7 

Chap. II. The Man 17 

Chap. III. For Such a Time as This 29 

Chap. IV. An Old Landmark Reset 43 

Chap. V. Religious Liberalism 58 

Chap. VI. A Landmark Our Fathers Set 88 

Chap. VII. The New Issue 98 

Chap. VIII. Select Editorials 113 

Chap. IX. Footprints of the Baptists 176 

Chap. X. Security of the Believer 184 

Chap. XL State of the Dead 189 

Chap. XII. Work of the Spirit in Salvation 225 

Chap. XIII. Preparation on Hardshellism 246 

Chap. XIV. Punishment of the Wicked 283 

Chap. XV. Arguments on Apostasy 307 

Chap. XVI. The Resurrection 321 

Chap. XVII. Brother Hall's last Sermon 333 

Chap. XVIII. Appendix 342 



JUN 15 1908 



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